Section 6: Problem 5 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 finite, does it follow that
and
are finite?
If it was given that both sets
and
are nonempty, then the answer would be yes. Indeed, if we assume that
is finite, then there is an injective function
from
to
for some
(Corollary 6.7). And if
is nonempty, then for a fixed
, the restriction of
on
is an injective function from
to
, but then there is an obvious bijective correspondence of
and
, the composite of which with
proves
to be finite (Corollary 6.7). Similarly, if
is nonempty, then
is finite. But if sets can be empty, then, as it was noted by Fran in the comments below, their product may be empty (finite) while one set is empty and the other is infinite:
.