1

Definitions

Since "neighborhoods" can be defined differently (as noted in the comments to this question), here are the relevant definitions I'm working with:

Topology (defined via open sets)

(from wiki; slightly modified for clarity)

A topology on a set $X$ may be defined as a collection $\tau$ of subsets of $X\text{,}$ satisfying the following axioms:

  1. The empty set and the carrier set belong to the topology. That is, $\varnothing \in \tau$ $\text{and } X \in \tau \text{.}$
  2. Any arbitrary (finite or infinite) union of members of $\tau$ belongs $\text{to }\tau \text{.}$
  3. The intersection of any finite number of members of $\tau$ belongs $\text{to }\tau \text{.}$

The carrier set, along with its topology, is called a topological space and is denoted $\text{by }(X, \tau)\text{.}$

Open set

Any element in the topology is called an open set. That is, any set $U$ $\text{where }U \in \tau \text{.}$

Neighbourhood (of a point)

(from wiki; slightly modified for clarity)

If $(X, \tau)$ is a topological space and $p$ is a point in $X$, then a neighbourhood of $p$ is a subset $V$ of $X$ that includes an open set $U$ $\text{containing }p$,

$$p \in U \subseteq V \subseteq X\text{.}$$

The Question

What are some examples of open sets that are not neighborhoods? The only one that comes to my mind is this one:

  • The empty set $\varnothing$ since it's open and contains no points of $X$, regardless of the topology.

I tried thinking about the discrete topology on $X\text{,}$ and briefly believed that singleton sets were an example (until I started writing out my train of logic on this post). My first line of thinking was something like this:

Every point $p \in X$ has a corresponding singleton set $\{p\} \in \tau$ (so it's open). However, $\{p\}$ is the smallest open set containing the point $p\text{,}$ so there doesn't exist any $U$ so that $$p \in U \subseteq \{p\} \subseteq X\text{.}$$

But then I remembered that any set is a subset of itself, so $\{p\} \subseteq \{p\}$ made me realize that the sets $U$ and $V$ in the definition of neighborhood could be the same set.

I guess what I'm really wondering is whether there are non-empty open sets (in some topology) that are not neighborhoods.

  • 1
    I think the OP's confusion stems from trying to make sense of a concept of "neighbourhood" as something distinct from "open set", when in reality the only meaningful use of the word neighbourhood is when specifying "neighbourhood of a particular point p." – Ari Brodsky Jul 05 '23 at 18:16
  • Slight nitpick: one can also have a "neighbourhood of a set" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighbourhood_(mathematics)#Neighbourhood_of_a_set

    But you made me realize that I shouldn't have left it implicit for most of the post (figured the section title "Neighbourhood (of a point)" was enough ).

    A part of my confusion likely stems from some mathematicians using "U is a neighborhood of a point p" to mean "U is an open set containing p." (p. 96 of Munkres Topology 2nd edition) But I think you're also correct that another part of my confusion was from not focusing on a point p.

    – Kevin Flowers Jr Jul 06 '23 at 05:00

1 Answers1

6

An easy consequence of the definition is that an open set is a neighborhood of each of its members. Namely, if $U$ is open and $p \in U$, take $V = U$ in the definition of neighborhood.

Robert Israel
  • 470,583
  • Never mind, I see what you're saying! – Brian Tung Jul 05 '23 at 02:42
  • 2
    Are you not qualifying "an open set" with "a non-empty open set" because "an open set is a neighborhood of each of its members" is vacuously true when the open set is empty? – Kevin Flowers Jr Jul 05 '23 at 02:50
  • 1
    @KevinFlowersJr, actually when Robert says “open set”, he means “non-empty open set”, indeed it is obvious that the empty set is open but cannot be a neighbourhood given that it does not contain any point. – Angelo Jul 05 '23 at 08:17
  • 4
    @Angelo: …and yet, the empty set is indeed obviously (and vacuously) "a neighborhood of each of its members" (of which there are none)! – Ilmari Karonen Jul 05 '23 at 11:18
  • @IlmariKaronen, but the empty set is not a neighbourhood of any point because it does not contain any point. – Angelo Jul 05 '23 at 11:20
  • 7
    @Angelo@ Robert is not claiming that the empty set is a neighbourhood. It is, however, a neighbourhood of each of its points (because it has no points). – TonyK Jul 05 '23 at 12:16
  • @TonyK Ah, yes, this is what I miss about studying topology: statements that are logically true but feel counterintuitive to one's first impression. One of my favorite examples from my uni days is that some sets are both closed and open (or "clopen" as one prof liked to say) – Kevin Flowers Jr Jul 06 '23 at 05:11