[Math] Describe a neighborhood of a given interior point

complex-analysis

Before I ask the question, I would like to define some terms.

A point $z_0$ is said to be an interior point of a subset $S$ of the complex plane if there exists some neighborhood of $z_0$ that lies entirely within $S$. If every point $z$ of a set $S$ is an interior point, then $S$ is said to be an open set. For example, the inequality $\Re(z) > 1$ defines a right half-plane, which is an open set. All complex numbers $z = x + iy$ for which $x > 1$ are in this set.

But does not it depend on the value of $y$? Suppose $z_0=1.1+2i$. How can we describe a neighborhood in this case? Clearly the length between $z_0$ and some points should be less than some value, but what is this value? Please help me.

Best Answer

One kind of neighborhood is an open disk around $z_0$. In your example, $z_0$ is $0.1$ from the line $Re(z)=1$, so any disk of radius less than $0.1$ will work. It doesn't depend on the imaginary part ($y$) because the division line doesn't depend on $y$.

If the set were the points for which $2Re(z) \gt Im(z)$, it is again an open set. Your $z_0=1.1+2i$ is in this set too. But the distance from the dividing line depends on $y$ in this case because the line is sloping.