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Closure (topology)





DEFINITIONS



Point of closure


For ''S'' a subset of an Euclidean Space , ''x'' is a point of closure of ''S'' if every Open Ball centered at ''x'' contains a point of ''S''. (This point may be ''x'' itself.)

This definition generalises to any subset ''S'' of a {''d''(''x'', ''s'') : ''s'' in ''S''} = 0.

This definition generalises to Topological Space s by replacing "open ball" or "ball" with " Neighbourhood ". Let ''S'' be a subset of a topological space ''X''. Then ''x'' is a point of closure of ''S'' if every neighbourhood of ''x'' contains a point of ''S''. Note that this definition does not depend upon whether neighbourhoods are required to be open.


Limit point


The definition of a point of closure is closely related to the definition of a Limit Point . The difference between the two definitions is subtle but important — namely, in the definition of limit point, every neighbourhood of the point ''x'' in question must contain a point of the set ''other than x itself''.

Thus, every limit point is a point of closure, but not every point of closure is a limit point. A point of closure which is not a limit point is an Isolated Point . In other words, a point ''x'' is an isolated point of ''S'' if it is an element of ''S'' and if there is a neighbourhood of ''x'' which contains no other points of ''S'' other than ''x'' itself.

For a given set ''S'' and point ''x'', ''x'' is a point of closure of ''S'' If And Only If ''x'' is an element of ''S'' or ''x'' is a limit point of ''S''.


Closure of a set


The closure of a set ''S'' is the set of all points of closure of ''S''. The closure of ''S'' is denoted cl(''S''), Cl(''S''), or ''S''. The closure of a set has the following properties.

  • cl(''S'') is a closed superset of ''S''.

  • cl(''S'') is the intersection of all Closed Set s containing ''S''.

  • cl(''S'') is the smallest closed set containing ''S''.

  • A set ''S'' is closed If And Only If ''S'' = cl(''S'').

  • If ''S'' is a subset of ''T'', then cl(''S'') is a subset of cl(''T'').

  • If ''A'' is a closed set, then ''A'' contains ''S'' if and only if ''A'' contains cl(''S'').


Sometimes the second or third property above is taken as the ''definition'' of the topological closure.

In a First-countable Space (such as a Metric Space ), cl(''S'') is the set of all Limits of all convergent Sequence s of points in ''S''. For a general topological space, this statement remains true if one replaces "sequence" by " Net ".

Note that these properties are also satisfied if "closure", "intersection", "contains/containing", "smallest" and "closed" are replaced by "interior", "union", "contained in", "largest", and "open". For more on this matter, see Closure Operator below.


EXAMPLES


  • In any space, the closure of the empty set is the empty set.

  • In any space ''X'', ''X'' = cl(''X'').

  • If ''X'' is the Euclidean space R of Real Number s, then cl((0, 1)) = 1 .

  • If ''X'' is the Euclidean space R, then the closure of the set '''Q''' of Rational Number s is the whole space R. We say that '''Q''' is Dense in R.