Topology Munkres ($2^\text{ed}$) $\S 13$ Exercise $7$: Bases for Topologies

general-topology

The following theorems are well known to me:
(i) Suppose $\tau$ and $\tau '$ are two topologies on a given set $X$. Then, $\tau '$ is said to be strictly finer than $\tau$ if $\tau \subsetneq \tau '$.
(ii) $\tau$ and $\tau '$ are comaprable if either $\tau \subset \tau '$ or $\tau '\subset \tau$ holds.
(iii) Let $\mathscr{B}$ and $\mathscr{B'}$ be the bases for topologies $\tau$ and $\tau '$ respectively on the set $X$. Then, TFAE:
$\hspace{25pt}$(a)$\tau '$ finer than $\tau$
$\hspace{25pt}$(b) for each $x\in X$ and each basis element $B\in \mathscr{B}$ containing $x$, there is a basis element $B'\in \mathscr{B'}$ such that $x\in B'\subset B$.

Question:
Let $X$ be a set.
Define:
${\mathscr{T}}_{1}=$ Finite Complement Topology$=\{U|X\setminus U $ is finite or $X\}$
${\mathscr{T}}_{2}=$ The topology having all sets $(-\infty ,a)=\{x|x<a\}$ as a basis.
Compare ${\mathscr{T}}_{1}$ and ${\mathscr{T}}_{2}$ when $X=\mathbb{R}$.

My Attempt:
Consider the set $U=(-\infty,2)\cup(2,\infty) \in{\mathscr{T}}_{1}.$
For any $x\in U$ such that $x>2$, there does not exist a basis element $B\in {\mathscr{T}}_{2}$ such that $U\subset B\in{\mathscr{T}}_{2}$.
$\implies {\mathscr{T}}_{1}\nsubseteq {\mathscr{T}}_{2}.$

For any $B=(-\infty,a)\in {\mathscr{T}}_{2}$ there exist an open set $U=\mathbb{R} \setminus \{a\} \in{\mathscr{T}}_{1}$ such that $B\subset U\in{\mathscr{T}}_{2}$.
$\implies {\mathscr{T}}_{2}\subset {\mathscr{T}}_{1}.$

But it is given that ${\mathscr{T}}_{2}$ and ${\mathscr{T}}_{1}$ are non-comparable.
Can you please give me hints about my mistake and also give me a way to fix it?

Best Answer

You made a mistake in the following statement.

For any $x\in U$ such that $x>2$, there does not exist a basis element $B\in {\mathscr{T}}_{2}$ such that $U\subset B\in{\mathscr{T}}_{2}$.
$\implies {\mathscr{T}}_{1}\nsubseteq{\mathscr{T}}_{2}.$

It should be $x \in B\subset U$.
Then use (iii) to get the desired result.

For proving ${\mathscr{T}}_{2}\nsubseteq {\mathscr{T}}_{1}.$
For any $B=(-\infty,a)\in {\mathscr{T}}_{2}$ there does not exist an open set $U \in{\mathscr{T}}_{1}$ such that $U\subset B$.
On contrary, we assume that there exists an open set $U \in{\mathscr{T}}_{1}$ such that $U\subset B$ holds.
$\implies [a,\infty)=\mathbb{R} \setminus B.$
$\implies [a,\infty) \subset \mathbb{R} \setminus U$ which is not finite.
It is a contradiction to the fact that $U \in{\mathscr{T}}_{1}$.
$\implies {\mathscr{T}}_{2}\nsubseteq {\mathscr{T}}_{1}$

Hence ${\mathscr{T}}_{2}$ and ${\mathscr{T}}_{1}$ are non-comparable.

Thank You @IEm for helpful comments.