A Simple Proof of Tychonoff's Theorem Via Nets

Author(s): Paul R. Chernoff

Source: The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 99, No. 10 (Dec., 1992), pp. 932-934
Published by: Mathematical Association of America
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 A Simple ProofofTychonoff's
Theorem
Via Nets

Paul R. Chernoff

1. INTRODUCTION. The Tychonofftheorem, a central theorem of point-set

topology,statesthat the productof any familyof compactspaces is compact.The
currenttextbookliteraturecontainsthree standardproofsof this theorem,all of
whichmay be found in the classic textof Kelley [8]: the proofusing Alexander's
subbase theorem[8, Ch. 5, Th. 6, Th. 13]; the Bourbakiproofusingultrafilters [8,
pp. 143-144]; and (at least implicitly)
the proofusinguniversalnets[8, p. 81, Ex. J].
Of these,the Bourbakiproofis the most popular; it can be presentedverybriefly
withoutexplicitmentionof the theoryof filters(cf. [5], [8]). However,it is difficult
to motivatewithouta thoroughstudyof filters.(See Munkres[10, pp. 229-234] for
a verythoughtful elementarymotivationof the Bourbakiproof.)
The aim of thisnote is to presenta simpleproofof Tychonoff'stheorem(new,
so faras I know)usingonlythe basic theoryof nets togetherwitha straightforward
applicationof Zorn's lemma.
For the convenienceof readerswho may not be familiarwiththe net theoryof
convergencein topologicalspaces, the nextsectionsummarizesthe factswe need.
The paper concludeswitha fewbriefcommentson the literature.

2. OUTLINE OF THE THEORY OF NETS. The topologyof a metricspace M is

describedby the sequences in M. In particular,M is compactprovidedthatevery
sequence of points in M has a subsequence that convergesin M. But one must
generalizethe notionof sequence to get a theoryof convergencethat is adequate
for arbitrarytopologicalspaces. The moderntheoryof generalized sequences, or
we need is proved in his book [8].
nets,is due to Kelley [6]. Everything
A directedset is a partiallyordered set (A, <) such that,given a and 3 (A,
thereis some y c A witha, / ?y. <

Example 1. The positiveintegersN, directedby the usual order.

Example 2. Let X be a topologicalspace, p E X, and let IVt be the set of all

neighborhoodsof the point p. For U, V E .$P let U < V mean V c U. Then
W= U n V > U, V; we say that V is "directedby reverseinclusion".

A net in a topological space X is a functionx: A -i X, where A is any

directedset. One saysthatthe net x is based on A. Useful notation:writex(a) as
xa, and denote the net x by {x,: a e A. This notation makes nets resemble
sequences; of course a sequence is simplya net based on the directedset N.
The net {xa: a E A} convergesto a point p E X provided that, given any
neighborhoodU of p, thereis some a e A such that,forall /3 > a, x. E U. (The

932 A SIMPLE PROOF OF TYCHONOFF S THEOREM VIA NETS [December

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limitp is uniqueif X is a Hausdorff space.)Easyconsequence:a subsetS of X is
closedifandonlyifthelimitofanyconvergent netofpointsof S is also in S. This
shows thatnets are indeed adequate to describethetopology of X.
A pointq E X is a point
cluster of thenet {ya: a E A) providedthat,givenany
neighborhood U of q and any a E-A, thereis some /32? a with E
yp, U. Example:
given a sequence, suppose thatq is a limitof some subsequence; then q is a cluster
point of theoriginal sequence.
The mostsubtleconceptin thetheoryis thatof a subnet.First,considertwo
directedsets A and B. A map 4: B -* A is cofinalprovidedthat,givena e A,
thereexists,BE B so that,forevery(3' > ,B,we have k(/3')2ca. Now let x
{Xa: a E Al be a netin X based on A. If <: B - A is a cofinal map,thenthe
composition x o 0 = {x,(p): ,3 E B) is a net based on B; we say thatx o 4pis a
subnetofthenet x.
The following resultis important becauseitrelatesclusterpointsto subnets.
is a subnet
pointofa netx ifandonlyifthere
Proposition. A pointp inX is a cluster
top.
ofx whichconverges
we requirethecharacterization
Finally, in termsofnets.
ofcompactness
netinX has a subnet
spaceX is compactifandonlyifevery
Theorem. A topological
every
inX. Equivalently,
whichconverges point.
netinX has a cluster
3. PROOF OF TYCHONOFF'STHEOREM. Let {Xji E-I be an indexedfamily of
compacttopological spaces.We mayassumethatthesespacesare all non-empty.
Recall thatthe productHi, i = X consistsof all functions f definedon the
indexset I, suchthat,foreach i E I, f(i) E Xi. A basicneighborhood N of f in
the producttopologyis determined by a finitesubset F c I, togetherwith
neighborhoods Uj of f(j) in Xj foreach j E F; N consists ofall h E X suchthat,
forall j E F, h(j) E Uj.It willbe convenient to saythatN is supported on F, and
to writeN = N{Uj:j E F).
By a partiallydefined member g of theproductX we meana function g with
domainJ C I, suchthat,forall i E J, g(i) E Xi. (Thatis, g E Hi E JXi,)
Let {fa: a E A) be a netin theproductspace X. Supposethatg, withdomain
definedmemberof X. Thenwe saythatg is a partialcluster
J c I, is a partially
pointof thegivennetprovidedthat,givena E A, foreveryfiniteset F c J and
everybasic neighborhood N{Uj: j E F) of g in Hi jXi, thereexists/8E A,
/32 a, suchthat,forall j E F, fG(j) E Uj.(In otherwords,g is a clusterpointin
Hi EJXi of the net {fa rJaa e A).) If g has domainJ = I, theng is a cluster
pointin X of thenet{fa: a E A). Our aimis to showtheexistence of sucha g,
usingZorn'slemma.
To thisend,let 01 be theset of all partialclusterpointsof thegivennet{fa:
a E A). Note that.2 is non-empty becausetheemptyfunction 0 E 9. Partially
order9. byinclusion (extension offunctions), Thatis, g1 c g2 providedthatthe
domainof g1 is containedin thatof g2,and g2 agreeswithg1 on theircommon
domain.
Suppose that ./= {gA: A E A) is a linearlyordered subset of . Define
90= UA a AgAk Then g0 is a partially definedmemberof X, because anytwo
membersof Y agreeon theircommondomait.Moreoverg0 E ql, i.e. g0 is a
partialclusterpointof thenet{fa: a E A). Thisis immediate fromthefactthat
everybasicneighborhood of g0 has finitesupportF, and so F is containedin the
domainof g, for some A E A, and this gA is a cluster
partial point.Accordingly

1992] A SIMPLE PROOF OF TYCHONOFF' S THEOREM VIA NETS 933

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go E .
and g0 is an upper bound for . Thus .Y satisfiesthe hypothesisof
Zorn'slemma.
ThereforeY containsa maximal memberg. We assertthatthedomainJ of g
is all of I. If thisis not the case choose k E I\ J. Now g is a clusterpointin
Fejjx1 of the net (fa.crJ: a e A) and therefore g is the limitof somesubnet
{f9,(p)J: p E B). Moreover, sinceXk is compactandnon-empty, thenet(f,(,(k):
p E B) has a clusterpointp E Xk. Definea function h withdomainJ U {k) by
setting h = g on J and h(k) = p. Thenitis clearthath is a partialclusterpointof
thenet(fa: a E A), so thath E - and h is strictly largerthang. Thiscontradicts
themaximality of g in q. Hencethedomainof g is I, g is a clusterpointofthe
net(fa: a E A), and theproofthatX is compactis done.

4. COMMENTSON THE LITERATURE.Tychonoff [12]originally provedthatan

arbitraryproductof compactintervalsis compact.The generaltheorem is due to
Cech[4,p. 8301.The "Bourbaki"ultrafilter is
proof givenby H. Cartan [3].A form
of the "universalnet" proofis in Tukey'sthesis[11,p. 36, p. 75]; the modern
versionis Kelley's[6].
All proofsofthegeneralTychonoff theorem involvesomeformoftheaxiomof
choice: thisfollows from well-known
Kelley's [7]. In [9] P. Loeb carefully
result
discussesthe role of the axiomof choice,and presentsa fairlystraightforward
proofofTychonoff's theoremwhichavoidstheaxiomof choicein certainspecial
cases.

REFERENCES

1. J.W. Alexander, Orderedsets,complexes, andtheproblem Proc.Nat. Acad.

ofcompactification,
Sci. USA 25 (1939),296-298.
2. N. Bourbaki, Topologie Hermann,
Ge'ne'rale, Paris,1971.
3. H. Cartan,Theoriedes filtres, Comptes
and Filtreset ultrafiltres, Rendusde l'Acad. Sci. (Paris)
205(1937),595-598and777-779.
4. E. Cech,On bicompact spaces,AnnalsofMath.38 (1937),823-844.
5. C. Chevalleyand 0. Frink,Bicompactness Bull. Amer.Math.Soc. 47
of Cartesianproducts,
(1941),612-614.
6. J.L. Kelley,Convergence in topology,DukeMath.J. 17 (1950),277-283.
7. __ , The Tychonoffproducttheoremimplies the axiom of choice, Fund. Math. 37 (1950),
75-76.
8. ____, New York, 1975.
General Topology,2nd Printing,Springer-Verlag,
9. P. A. Loeb, A newproofof theTychonoff theorem,Amer.Math.Monthly72 (1965),711-717.
10. J.R. Munkres, Topology: 1975.
NewJersey,
A FirstCourse,Prentice-Hall,
11. J.W. Tukey,Convergenceanduniformity Ann.ofMath.Studies2, Princeton
in topology, (1940).
12. A. Tychonoff,Uberdie topologische
Erweiterung von Raumen,Math.Annalen102(1929-30),
544-561.

DepartmentofMathematics
ofCalifornia
University
CA 94720
Berkeley,

934 A SIMPLE PROOF OF TYCHONOFF S THEOREM VIA NETS [December

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