Section 3: Problem 14 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
If
is a relation on a set
, define a new relation
on
by letting
if
.
(a) Show that
is symmetric if and only if
.
(b) Show that if
is an order relation,
is also an order relation.
(c) Prove the converse of the theorem in Exercise 13.
(a)
is symmetric iff for all
,
iff for all
,
iff
is symmetric.
(b) If
satisfies comparability and nonreflexivity, so does
. If
is transitive, then for all
,
and
imply
and
, which imply
, which implies
, so
is also transitive.
(c) Denote
as
and
as
. Then, using (b) to argue that
is an ordered set iff
is an ordered set, if
has the greatest lower bound property, then for every
such that
for all
, there is
such that
for all
, and for every
such that
for all
,
, then for every
such that
for all
, there is
such that
for all
, and for every
such that
for all
,
, then
has the least upper bound property, then (using Exercise 13)
has the greatest lower bound property, then (using the same argument as above for
)
has the least upper bound property.
I don’t know if this looks any easier than a direct argument similar to Exercise 13 would do.