2.3 The Completeness Property of R 2.3.1 Denition Let S be a nonempty subset of R. 1.

S is said to be bounded above if there exists a u R such that s u for all s S. u is called an upper bound of S. 2. S is said to be bounded below if there exists a w R such that w s for all s S. w is called a lower bound of S. 3. S is said to be bounded if it is bounded above AND below. If S is not bounded it is called unbounded. Note that if a set has an upper bound, it has innitely many upper bounds. Similarly for a set that is bound below. 2.3.2 Denition Let S be a nonempty subset of R. 1. If S is bounded above, then a number u is called the supremum or least upper bound of S (denoted supS) if a) u is an upper bound of S, and b) if v is any upper bound of S, then u v. 2. If S is bounded below, then a number w is called the inmum or greatest lower bound of S (denoted infS) if a) w is a lower bound of S, and b) if t is any lower bound of S, then t w.
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Note that we refer to the inmum and the supremum i.e. if a set has a supremum or an inmum then they are unique. The following two statements are clearly equivalent for the supremum u of a set S: 1. if v is any upper bound of S, then u v 2. if z < u, then z is not an upper bound of S. 2.3.3 Lemma. A number u is the supremum of a nonempty subset S of R if and only if u satises the following 1. s u for all s S, and 2. if v < u, then there exists an s S such that v < s .

2.3.4 Lemma. An upper bound u of a nonempty subset S in R is the supremum of S if and only if for every > 0 there exists an s S such that u < s . Proof: For the reverse implication, suppose that for every > 0 there exists an s S such that u < s . Let v < u. Hence we must show that v is not an upper bound for S. Let = u v > 0. From the hypothesis of the theorem then, there exists an s S such that v = u < s . Necessarily then v is not an upper bound for S i.e. u is the supremum of S. For the forward implication, assume that u is the supremum of S. For every > 0, u < u. Since u is the supremum it follows that u cannot be an upper bound for S and so there must exist an s S such that u < s .

2.3.5 Examples a) S has nitely many elements. b) S = {x : 0 x 1}. c) S = {x : 0 < x < 1}. The Completeness Property of R Every nonempty set of real numbers that has an upper bound also has a supremum in R. Note that an analogous result (regarding inma) holds for sets having a lower bound, in consideration of the set S = {s : s S} (since if the set S is bounded above, the set S is bounded below).