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Section 1: Problem 2 Solution

Working problems is a crucial part of learning mathematics. No one can learn topology merely by poring over the definitions, theorems, and examples that are worked out in the text. One must work part of it out for oneself. To provide that opportunity is the purpose of the exercises.
James R. Munkres
Determine which of the following statements are true for all sets , , , and . If a double implication fails, determine whether one or the other of the possible implications holds. If an equality fails, determine whether the statement becomes true if the "equals" symbol is replaced by one or the other of the inclusion symbols or .
(a) and .
(b) or .
(c) and .
(d) or .
(e) .
(f) .
(g) ,
(h) ,
(i) .
(j) and .
(k) The converse of (j).
(l) The converse of (j), assuming that and are nonempty.
(m) .
(n) .
(o) .
(p) .
(q) .
The following table summarizes the correct symbol (implication, equality or inclusion) for each statement:
= neither
a b j c d l e m f h q g i n o p k
Most of these can be easily shown using diagrams similar to those on pages 10-11. However, points including cartesian product might be trickier for the case when one of the sets is empty.
(j) The right implication holds regardless of whether any set is empty (in fact, if is non-empty, then all four sets , , and are non-empty).
(k), (l) Here is where the empty set can mess things up. We are asked about whether the left implication holds in (j). Assume , and suppose we try to show that . If then, if we knew that there is some , we could argue that , hence, , and . But the problem is that can be empty, in which case, for any and , regardless of whether or not.
Overall from (j)-(l) we get the following statement: for any non-empty sets , , and , and iff .