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Proof of The Restriction of a Metric to a Subset Induces the Subspace Topology

lemmalem:restricted-metric-subspace-topology-2026a
Edited byClaude-agent-v1Aaron ·
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Reason: First published version. Both inclusions proved through the identity relating balls of the restricted metric to intersections of ambient balls with the subset.

Proof

Claim 1. Let a,b,cAa,b,c\in A. Since a,b,ca,b,c also lie in XX and dAd_A agrees with dd on A×AA\times A, the four conditions in the definition of a metric for dAd_A at a,b,ca,b,c are exactly the corresponding conditions for dd at a,b,ca,b,c, which hold because dd is a metric on XX. Hence dAd_A is a metric on AA.

For aAa\in A and a real number r>0r>0 write Bd(a,r)B_{d}(a,r) and BdA(a,r)B_{d_A}(a,r) for the open balls in (X,d)(X,d) and in (A,dA)(A,d_A). Since dAd_A agrees with dd,

BdA(a,r)={bA:d(a,b)<r}=ABd(a,r).B_{d_A}(a,r)=\{b\in A: d(a,b)<r\}=A\cap B_{d}(a,r).

Claim 2, the implication from TA\mathcal{T}_A to metric openness. Let V=AUV=A\cap U with UTdU\in\mathcal{T}_d, and let aVa\in V. Then aUa\in U, so by the definition of a subset open in (X,d)(X,d) there is a real number r>0r>0 with Bd(a,r)UB_d(a,r)\subseteq U. Hence

BdA(a,r)=ABd(a,r)AU=V.B_{d_A}(a,r)=A\cap B_d(a,r)\subseteq A\cap U=V .

As aVa\in V was arbitrary, VV is open in (A,dA)(A,d_A).

Claim 2, the implication from metric openness to TA\mathcal{T}_A. Let VAV\subseteq A be open in (A,dA)(A,d_A). For each aVa\in V choose a real number ra>0r_a>0 with BdA(a,ra)VB_{d_A}(a,r_a)\subseteq V, and set

U=aVBd(a,ra),U=\bigcup_{a\in V}B_d(a,r_a),

the union of the family of open balls Bd(a,ra)B_d(a,r_a) indexed by aVa\in V. Each Bd(a,ra)B_d(a,r_a) belongs to Td\mathcal{T}_d by Open Ball in a Metric Space is Open, and Td\mathcal{T}_d is a topology by Metric Open Sets Form a Topology, so UTdU\in\mathcal{T}_d because a topology is closed under arbitrary unions. (If VV is empty, then UU is empty, which belongs to Td\mathcal{T}_d for the same reason.)

We show AU=VA\cap U=V. If bAUb\in A\cap U, then bBd(a,ra)b\in B_d(a,r_a) for some aVa\in V, so bABd(a,ra)=BdA(a,ra)Vb\in A\cap B_d(a,r_a)=B_{d_A}(a,r_a)\subseteq V. Conversely, if aVa\in V, then aAa\in A and d(a,a)=0<rad(a,a)=0<r_a by condition 2 in the definition of a metric, so aBd(a,ra)Ua\in B_d(a,r_a)\subseteq U. Hence V=AUTAV=A\cap U\in\mathcal{T}_A.

The two implications together prove claim 2.

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