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Section A.1 Topology

Definition A.1.

Suppose 𝑋 is a set. Then 𝒯 is a topology on 𝑋 if and only if 𝒯 is a collection of subsets of 𝑋 such that
  1. βˆ… \in 𝒯,
  2. 𝑋 \in 𝒯,
  3. if π‘ˆ \in 𝒯 and 𝑉 \in 𝒯, then π‘ˆ \cap 𝑉 \in 𝒯, and
  4. if {π‘ˆπ›Ό}𝛼\in πœ† is any collection of sets of 𝒯, then ⋃𝛼\in πœ† π‘ˆπ›Ό \in 𝒯.
A topological space is an ordered pair (𝑋, 𝒯), where 𝑋 is a set and 𝒯 is a topology on 𝑋. We use the word space to mean topological space unless otherwise noted.
The definition of a topological space arose from an abstraction of our familiar concepts of limits and continuity in Euclidean spaces. The properties of the sets in a topology were properties that were satisfied by the usual open sets of ℝ, so we will use the term open to refer to sets in a topology.

Definition A.2.

A set π‘ˆ βŠ‚ 𝑋 is called an open set in (𝑋, 𝒯) if and only if π‘ˆ \in 𝒯.

Convention A.3.

It is customary to use the letters π‘ˆ and 𝑉 to denote open sets.
So we can think of a topology on 𝑋 as specifying what subsets of 𝑋 will be considered open.

Remark A.4.

Keep in mind that open sets are elements of the topology 𝒯 and subsets of the space 𝑋. Elements of 𝑋, on the other hand, are the points of the space 𝑋.