Exercises
Every exercise in the book, tagged by how hard it is and which technique it practises. Pick a difficulty for a quick warm-up or a stretch, or pick a technique (say, induction) to drill just that. “Builds on” lists the other sections an exercise cites in its statement or hint, so you can see what to have read first. Your “done” marks come from the toggles under each exercise.
Prove for all positive integers .
Prove for all positive integers .
Prove for all positive integers .
Guess a formula for by evaluating the sum for . Prove your formula using mathematical induction.
Prove for all positive integers .
Prove is divisible by when is a positive integer.
Prove is divisible by for all positive integers .
The principle of induction extends as follows: are all true provided (i) is true and (ii) is true whenever is true and . Prove …
Decide for which integers the inequality is true. Prove your claim in (a) by mathematical induction.
Prove for all positive integers .
For each , let denote the assertion " is an even integer." Prove is true whenever is true. For which is …
For let , let , and define for . The binomial theorem asserts …
Show , , , and are not rational numbers.
Show , and are not rational numbers.
Show is not a rational number.
Show is not a rational number.
Show is not a rational number.
In connection with Example 6, discuss why is rational if is rational.
Show the following irrational-looking expressions are actually rational numbers.
Find all rational solutions of the equation .
Which of the properties A1–A4, M1–M4, DL, O1–O5 fail for ? Which of these properties fail for ?
The commutative law A2 was used in the proof of (ii) in Theorem 3.1. Where? The commutative law A2 was also used in the proof of (iii) in Theorem 3.1. Where?
Prove (iv) and (v) of Theorem 3.1.
Prove (v) and (vii) of Theorem 3.2.
Show if and only if . Prove for all .
Prove for all . (Apply the triangle inequality twice. Do not consider eight cases.) Use induction to prove …
Show if and only if . Show if and only if . Show if and only if .
Let . Show if for every , then .
For each set below that is bounded above, list three upper bounds for the set. Otherwise write "NOT BOUNDED ABOVE" or "NBA." (An integer …
Repeat Exercise 4.1 for lower bounds.
For each set in Exercise 4.1, give its supremum if it has one. Otherwise write "NO sup."
Repeat Exercise 4.3 for infima (the plural of infimum).
Let be a nonempty subset of that is bounded above. Prove that if belongs to , then . (Your proof should be very short.)
Let be a nonempty bounded subset of . Prove . (This is almost obvious; your proof should be short.) What can you say about if …
Let and be nonempty bounded subsets of . Prove that if , then . Prove …
Let and be nonempty subsets of such that for all and . Observe is bounded above and is bounded below. Prove …
Complete the proof that in Corollary 4.5 by proving (1) and (2).
Prove that if , then there exists such that .
Consider with . Use Denseness of 4.7 to show there are infinitely many rationals between and .
Let be the set of real numbers that are not rational; these are the irrational numbers. Prove that if , then there exists with .
Prove the following are equivalent for real numbers (either all of them hold or none does): , , .
Let and be nonempty bounded subsets of , and let . Prove . Prove …
Let . Show that if for all , then . Compare Exercise 3.8.
Show for each .
Write the following sets in interval notation:
Give the infimum and supremum of each set listed in Exercise 5.1.
Give the infimum and supremum of each unbounded set listed in Exercise 4.1.
Let be a nonempty subset of , and let . Prove .
Prove for every nonempty subset of . Compare Exercise 4.6(a).
Let and be nonempty subsets of with . Prove . Compare Exercise 4.7(a).
Finish Example 1 by verifying the equality involving infimums.
Consider . Show if and only if ; if and only if ; . (Note that …
Show that if and are Dedekind cuts, then so is .
Show for all Dedekind cuts . We claimed, without proof, that addition of Dedekind cuts satisfies A4: for each cut there is a cut …
Let and be Dedekind cuts and define the "product" …
Show is a Dedekind cut, but is not. Does the Dedekind cut …
Write out the first five terms of the following sequences.
For each sequence in Exercise 7.1, determine whether it converges. If it converges, give its limit. No proofs are required.
For each sequence below, determine whether it converges and, if it converges, give its limit. No proofs are required. …
Give examples of a sequence of irrational numbers whose limit is a rational number; a sequence of rational numbers whose limit is an irrational number.
Determine the following limits. No proofs are required, but show any relevant algebra. where …
Prove the following:
Determine the limits of the following sequences, and then prove your claims. …
Let be a sequence of nonnegative real numbers with . Prove . This completes the proof of Example 5.
Let be a bounded sequence, i.e. there is with for all , and let be a sequence with . Prove .
This exercise is referred to in several places. Consider sequences , , with for all and . Prove …
Let be a sequence in . Prove if and only if . Observe that if , then exists, but does not.
Show the following sequences do not converge.
Prove the following (see Exercise 7.5):
Let be a sequence that converges. (This exercise is referred to in several places.) Show that if for all but finitely many , then …
Let be a convergent sequence with . Prove there is a number such that implies .
Using the limit Theorems 9.2–9.7, prove the following. Justify all steps. …
Suppose , and all are nonzero. Determine:
Suppose , , and . Prove carefully, using the limit theorems.
Let and for . List the first four terms of . It turns out that converges. Assume this and prove the limit is …
Let and for . Assume converges and find the limit.
Let and for . Show that if , then or . Does …
Complete the proof of Theorem 9.7(c), i.e. give the standard argument needed to show .
Give the following when they exist. Otherwise assert "NOT EXIST."
Suppose there is such that for all . Prove that if , then . Prove that if , then …
Show that if and , then . Show if and only if . Show that if and …
Show that if and , then . Show that if and …
Assume all and that the limit exists. (This exercise is referred to in several places.) Show that if , then …
Show
Let . Use Exercise 9.12 to show …
Show for all .
Use Theorems 9.9 and 9.10 or Exercises 9.9–9.15 to prove the following: …
Give a formal proof that using only Definition 9.8.
Verify for . Find for . Calculate …
Which of the following sequences are increasing? decreasing? bounded?
Prove Theorem 10.2 for bounded decreasing sequences.
For a decimal expansion let be as in 10.3. Prove for all .
Discuss why Theorems 10.2 and 10.11 would fail if we restricted our world of numbers to the set of rational numbers.
Prove Theorem 10.4(ii).
Let be a sequence with for all . Prove is a Cauchy sequence and hence convergent. Is the result in (a) true if we only assume …
Let be a bounded nonempty subset of such that is not in . Prove there is a sequence of points in with …
Let be an increasing sequence of positive numbers and define . Prove is increasing.
Let and for . Find , and . Show exists. Prove .
Let and for . Find , and . Use induction to show for all . Show is a decreasing sequence. Show …
Let and for . Show exists. What do you think is?
Let and for . Show exists. What do you think is? Use induction to show …
Let for . List the first eight terms of …
Consider , , , …
Repeat Exercise 11.2 for , , , .
Repeat Exercise 11.2 for , , , .
Let be an enumeration of all the rationals in the interval . Give the set of subsequential limits for . Give the values of and .
Show every subsequence of a subsequence of a given sequence is itself a subsequence of the given sequence.
Let be an enumeration of the set of all rational numbers. Show there exists a subsequence such that .
Use Definition 10.6 and Exercise 5.4 to prove for every sequence . (This exercise is referred to in several places.)
Show the closed interval is a closed set. Is there a sequence such that is its set of subsequential limits?
Form an infinite array whose every row is , and let …
Let be a bounded set. Prove there is an increasing sequence of points in with . Compare Exercise 10.7. (If , it suffices to let …
Let and be sequences with for all . Show and .
Prove if and only if .
Let and repeat in cycles of four: Find …
Show for bounded sequences and .
Use Exercises 11.8 and 12.4 to prove for bounded sequences and .
Let be a bounded sequence and . Prove . Do the same for . (Use Exercise 11.8.) What happens in (a) and (b) if …
Prove that if and , then .
Let and be bounded sequences of nonnegative numbers. Prove .
Prove that if and , then . Prove that if and , then …
Prove is bounded if and only if .
Prove the first inequality in Theorem 12.2.
Let be a sequence of nonnegative numbers, and let . Show …
Let be a bounded sequence in . Let be the set of such that is finite. Prove and …
Calculate
For let and . Show and are metrics for …
Prove (1) in Lemma 13.3. Prove the first assertion in Lemma 13.3.
Let be the set of all bounded sequences and define . Show is a metric for . Does …
Prove (iii) and (iv) in Discussion 13.7.
Verify one of De Morgan's laws: …
Prove Proposition 13.9.
Show that every open set in is the disjoint union of a finite or infinite sequence of open intervals.
Verify the assertions in the first paragraph of Example 3. Verify the assertions in Example 4.
Find the closures of the following sets:
Show that the interior of each of the following sets is empty: The Cantor set in Example 5
Let . Show that is compact if and only if every sequence in has a subsequence converging to a point in .
Let be any metric space. Show that if is a closed subset of a compact set , then is compact. Show that a finite union of compact sets in is compact.
Let be a compact nonempty subset of . Show and belong to .
Let be a compact nonempty subset of and . Show contains points with .
Let be as in Exercise 13.3, and let consist of all with . Show is closed and bounded. (A set in a metric space is bounded if …
Determine which of the following series converge. Justify your answers. …
Repeat Exercise 14.1 for the following. …
Repeat Exercise 14.1 for the following. …
Repeat Exercise 14.1 for the following.
Suppose and with real. Use limit theorems from §9 to quickly prove: . for . Is …
Prove that if converges and is bounded, then converges. Observe that Corollary 14.7 is a special case of part (a).
Prove that if is a convergent series of nonnegative numbers and , then converges.
Show that if and are convergent series of nonnegative numbers, then converges.
The convergence of a series does not depend on any finite number of its terms, though its value does. Precisely: if is finite, then …
Find a series that diverges by the Root Test but for which the Ratio Test gives no information. Compare Example 8.
Let be a sequence of nonzero reals such that the ratios form a constant sequence. Show is a geometric series.
Let be a sequence with . Prove there is a subsequence such that converges.
It is often much harder to find the value of an infinite sum than to show it exists. Here are some sums that can be handled. Calculate …
Prove diverges by comparing with , where …
Determine which of the following series converge. Justify your answers.
Repeat Exercise 15.1 for the following.
Show converges if and only if .
Determine which of the following series converge. Justify your answers. …
Why didn't we use the Comparison Test to prove Theorem 15.1 for ?
Give an example of a divergent series for which converges. Observe that if is a convergent series of nonnegative terms, then …
Prove that if is a decreasing sequence of real numbers and converges, then . Use (a) to give another proof that diverges.
Formulate and prove a general integral test as advised in 15.2.
Show and are both decimal expansions for . Which of these expansions arises from the long division process in 16.1?
Verify the claims in the first paragraph of the proof of Theorem 16.3.
Suppose and are convergent series of nonnegative numbers. Show that if for all and for at least one , then .
Write the following repeating decimals as rationals, i.e. as fractions of integers. …
Find the decimal expansions of the following rational numbers.
Find the decimal expansions of and . Note the interesting pattern.
Is rational?
Let be a sequence of numbers in . Each has a decimal expansion . For each , let if and …
Let . Show is a decreasing sequence. Show …
In Example 6(b) we showed is irrational. Use this to show is irrational. What can you say about and ? ?
Let for and for all . Give the domains of , , and . Find , , …
Let for , for , and for all . Thus . Determine , , , …
Accept on faith that the following are continuous on their domains: , , , , for , and for ( …
Prove the function is continuous on its domain .
Prove that if , then is continuous on . Prove every polynomial is continuous on .
A rational function is a function with polynomials; its domain is . Prove every rational function is continuous.
Observe that if , then is continuous by Exercise 17.5. Prove is a continuous function on …
Let and be real-valued functions. Show . Show . Use (a) or (b) to prove that if and …
Prove each function is continuous at by verifying the ε–δ property of Theorem 17.2. (Try (a)–(c) in the widget above.) , ; , ; …
Prove the following functions are discontinuous at the indicated points, using either Definition 17.1 or the ε–δ property. for and for , …
Let be real-valued with . Prove is continuous at if and only if, for every *monotonic* sequence in …
Let be a continuous real-valued function with domain . Show that if for each rational in , then for all . Let and …
Let for rational and for irrational . Show is discontinuous at every in . Let for rational and for irrational …
For each nonzero rational , write with integers having no common factors and , and define . Also define and …
Let be real-valued with . Show is continuous at in if and only if, for every sequence in …
The postage-stamp function is defined by for and for . So takes the value on , on , on …
Let be as in Theorem 18.1. Show that if assumes its maximum at , then assumes its minimum at .
Reread the proof of Theorem 18.1 with replaced by . Where does it break down? Discuss.
Use calculus to find the maximum and minimum of on .
Let and suppose there is a sequence in converging to a number . Show there exists an unbounded continuous function on .
Let and be continuous on with and . Prove for at least one in …
Prove for some in . (Find it numerically in the widget above.)
Prove for some in .
Suppose is a real-valued continuous function on and for some . Prove there exists between and such that .
Prove that a polynomial function of odd degree has at least one real root.
Suppose is continuous on and . Prove there exist in such that and .
Show that if is strictly increasing on an interval , then is strictly decreasing on . State and prove Theorems 18.4 and 18.5 for strictly decreasing functions.
Let for and . Observe that is discontinuous at by Exercise 17.10(b). Show has the intermediate value property on …
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