Supremum and infimum: characterization with ε

Auteur :Lucia Del Chicca, Andreas Lindner

Thème :Calcul

Supremum and Infimum of sequences

A sequence is bounded, if the set range {a_n : n

}

is a bounded set. We define: 1) greatest lower bound or infimum of A, denoted by inf A := T, if

T ≤ A, i.e., T is a lower bound and
x ≤ A ⇒ x ≤ T, i.e., there is no greater lower bound.

1) least upper bound or supremum of A, denoted by sup A := T, if

A ≤ T, i.e., T is an upper bound and
A ≤ x ⇒ T ≤ x, i.e., there is no smaller upper bound.

We give equivalent definition of supremum and infimum: (Although it looks more complicated at first sight, this formulation is sometimes very helpful). Let $A ⊂ R$ be bounded from below. Then: 1) inf A:= T if and only if

T ≤ A, i.e., T is a lower bound and
∀ε > 0 ∃a ∈ A: a < T + ε, i.e., T comes arbitrarily close to A.

2) sup A := T if and only

if A ≤ T, i.e., T is an upper bound and
∀ε > 0 ∃a ∈ A: a > T − ε, i.e., T comes arbitrarily close to A

Supremum and infimum: characterization with ε

Supremum and Infimum of sequences

Nouvelles ressources

Découvrir des ressources

Découvrir des Thèmes