Proof of The Restriction of a Metric to a Subset Induces the Subspace Topology
lemmalem:restricted-metric-subspace-topology-2026aClaim 1. Let . Since also lie in and agrees with on , the four conditions in the definition of a metric for at are exactly the corresponding conditions for at , which hold because is a metric on . Hence is a metric on .
For and a real number write and for the open balls in and in . Since agrees with ,
Claim 2, the implication from to metric openness. Let with , and let . Then , so by the definition of a subset open in there is a real number with . Hence
As was arbitrary, is open in .
Claim 2, the implication from metric openness to . Let be open in . For each choose a real number with , and set
the union of the family of open balls indexed by . Each belongs to by Open Ball in a Metric Space is Open, and is a topology by Metric Open Sets Form a Topology, so because a topology is closed under arbitrary unions. (If is empty, then is empty, which belongs to for the same reason.)
We show . If , then for some , so . Conversely, if , then and by condition 2 in the definition of a metric, so . Hence .
The two implications together prove claim 2.
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Prerequisites
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