[Math] Set of rational numbers and its interior and closure

general-topology

  1. for the set of rational numbers, what would be its interior?

  2. And what is its interior's closure?

  3. If one says that a set's closure has empty interior, what does it mean? So it means that all elements of a set are limit points?

  4. By "limit points", how are they exactly defined? Can't real number be also limit point?

Best Answer

HINTS for (1) and (2) and answers to (3) and (4):

  1. Every non-empty open set in $\Bbb R$ is a union of open intervals. Does $\Bbb Q$ contain any non-empty open interval?

  2. What is $\operatorname{cl}\varnothing$?

  3. $\operatorname{int}\operatorname{cl}A=\varnothing$ if and only if $\operatorname{cl}A$ contains no non-empty open set. An example of such an $A$ is $\left\{\frac1n:n\in\Bbb Z^+\right\}$: the closure of this set is $\{0\}\cup\left\{\frac1n:n\in\Bbb Z^+\right\}$, which contains no non-empty open interval. Another way to say this: every point of $\operatorname{cl}A$ is a limit point of $\Bbb R\setminus\operatorname{cl}A$, the complement of $\operatorname{cl}A$.

  4. If $A\subseteq\Bbb R$, a point $x\in\Bbb R$ is a limit point of $A$ if and only if every open neighborhood of $x$ contains a point of $A\setminus\{x\}$. If you’re working in $\Bbb R$, as you seem to be, real numbers are the only things that can be limit points of $A$: they’re the only things that are even points in your space.