Math 501.

Homework 3, due Wednesday,

September 12

Problem 1. Let f : [0, 1] → R be a function. One says that f is absolutely

continuous, if for any ε > 0 there is δ > 0 with the following property: given
any (finite
P or countable) collection
P [ak , bk ] of disjoint closed subintervals of
[0, 1], if k |ak − bk | < δ, then |f (ak ) − f (bk )| < ε. Prove that every
absolutely continuous function is continuous. Show that the Cantor function
is an example of a continuous function that is not absolutely continuous.

Problem 2. A real number α is called a Liouville number if it is irrational

and for each n ∈ N there exist integers p, q with q > 1 such that
 
α −  < 1 .
p
 
 q  qn
Show that the set L of Liouville numbers is the intersection of countably
many dense open sets (in particular, it is dense).
Problem 3. In the complete metric space C[0, 1], let Am,n , for m, n ∈ N,
be the set
   
 f (x + h) − f (x) 
f : [0, 1] → R : ∃x ∈ [0, 1] s.t. 

 ≤ m ∀0 < |h| ≤ 1/n .

h
Show that Am,n is a closed set with empty interior (closed, nowhere dense).
Deduce that there exist (a dense set of) continuous functions [0, 1] → R that
are not differentiable at any point.

Problem 4. Let X be a compact metric space, and let M be the compact

(in particular, complete) metric space of closed subsets of X, equipped with
the Hausdorff distance (see homework 2). Suppose that f1 , ..., fn : X → X
are strict contractions. Prove that the map f : M → M , defined by
f (K) = f1 (K) ∪ · · · ∪ fn (K)

1
is a strict contraction, and therefore that there is a unique closed K ⊂ X
such that K = f1 (K) ∪ · · · ∪ fn (K). Taking X = [0, 1], find two contractions
f1 , f2 such that the unique K so defined is the Cantor set.

Problem 5. A metric space is said to be separable if it has a dense count-

able subset. For example, R is separable because Q is countable and dense
in R. Let X be a compact metric space. Prove that X is separable. Prove
further that C(X) is separable (You may find it helpful to use the Stone-
Weierstrass theorem).