Mathematics, Department of
Date of this Version
2-1961
Abstract
The examples usually given as instances of topological spaces that have T1-separation but not T2-separation (Hausdorff) also have the property that some compact subset is not closed. This with the classic result concerning closedness of compact subsets of a Hausdorff space suggests the question of the equivalence of Hausdorff separation and the condition that the class of compact subsets be a subclass of the class of the closed subsets of a given space. The following is a simple result of this type and may be of some use in an introductory course in point set topology.
THEOREM. If X is a space satisfying the first axiom of countability, then a necessary and sufficient condition that X be a Hausdorff space is that the class of compact subsets of X be a subclass of the class of closed subsets of X.
Only the sufficiency need be considered here.
Comments
Published in The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 68, No. 2 (Feb., 1961), p. 164 Copyright 1961 Mathematical Association of America Used by permission.