MA 101: Engineering Mathematics I
Tutorial Sheet 1: Real Number System
1. Find inf S and sup S of the following sets if they exist.
1
(i) S = n+1 :n∈N .
(ii) S = (−1)n 1 + n1 : n ∈ N .
n o
(−1)n
(iii) S = 1+ n :n∈N .
n o
m
(iv) S = |m|+n
: n ∈ N, m ∈ Z .
(v) S = (−∞, 0) ∪ { n1 : n ∈ N}.
2. Let x ∈ R. Show that there exists an integer m such that m ≤ x < m + 1 and an integer l such
that x < l ≤ x + 1.
3. Let A and B be non-empty subsets of R such that a ≤ b for each a ∈ A and b ∈ B. Show that
A is bounded above and B is bounded below and sup A ≤ inf B.
4. Let A and B be two non-empty subsets of R. The sum of A and B is defined by A + B :=
{a + b : a ∈ A, b ∈ B}. Prove that
(i) sup(A + B) = sup A + sup B.
(ii) inf(A + B) = inf A + inf B.
5. Let us consider the set S := {r ∈ Q : 0 < r2 ≤ 2}.
(i) Suppose that x ∈ Q and x > 0. Show that if x2 < 2, then there exists n ∈ N such that
(x + n1 )2 < 2. Also, show that if x2 > 2, then there exists m ∈ N such that (x − m1 )2 > 2.
(ii) Show that the set S is non-empty bounded subset of Q but it does not have supremum in
Q. Conclude that Q does not have the completeness property!
(iii) Let α ∈ R be the supremum of S. Show that α2 = 2.
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