Proving a statement in Real Analysis

analysisreal-analysis

I'll directly quote a couple of lines from Principles of Mathematical Analysis by Rudin:

An ordered set $S$ has the least-upper-bound property if the following is true:
If $E \subset S, E $ is not empty and is bounded above, then $sup E$ exists in S. We shall now show that there is a close relation between the greatest lower bound and the least upper bounds, and that every ordered set with the least-upper-bound property(which I'll hereafter refer to as LUB property) also has the greatest-lower-bound property(GLB property).

Drawing an analogy from the previous definition, I think this is what the GLB property is: If $E \subset S, E $ is not empty and is bounded below, then $inf E$ exists in S.
The author continues to describe a theorem and its proof:

Theorem Suppose $S$ is an ordered set with the least-upper-bound property,$B \subset S, B $ is not empty and is bounded below. Let $L$ be the set of all lower bounds of $B$. Then $\alpha = supL$ exists in $S$ and is equal to $infB$. In particular $infB$ exists in $S$.
Proof Since B is bounded below, L is not empty. Since L consists of exactly those $y \in S$ satisfying $y \le x$ for every $x \in B$, every $x \in B$ is an upper bound of L. Thus L is bounded above. Our hypothesis about S implies therefore that L has a supremum in S; call it $\alpha$. If $\gamma < \alpha$ then $\gamma$ is not an upper bound of L, hence $\gamma$ is not in B. Thus $\alpha \in L$. If $\alpha < \beta, \beta$ is not in L since $\alpha$ is an upper bound of L. We have shown that $\alpha \in L$ but $\beta$ is not in L if $\beta > \alpha$. In other words $\alpha$ is a lower bound of B, but $\beta$ is not if $\beta > \alpha$. This means that $\alpha = infB$.

I think we are trying to show here is that since $S$ has the LUB property, it also has the GLB property.

  1. If so, its clear from the definition that $B$ should be bounded above and not below, unlike what's stated in the theorem.
  2. 'Our hypothesis about S implies therefore that L has a supremum in S.' This is definitely a conclusion of the LUB property, but how can we be so certain that $L \subset S$?

Best Answer

  1. Why? You wrote yourself that that the GLB property is “If $E\subset S$, $E$ is not empty and is bounded below, then $\inf E$ exists in $S$.”
  2. Because everything here is taking place in $S$.