Changing the distance considered on a metric space changes open sets inside?

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I've just started topology on my grade. It makes a lot of sense to start introducing something that we've already been introduced to before on Calculus I, the notion of metric spaces.



My teacher said in class that if we have a metric space $(X,d)$ and we change the distance on it, $(X,d')$, then an open ball on $(X,d)$ is an open ball on $(X,d')$, and that leads us to say that all open sets on $X$ are independent of what distance we choose to consider.



"After that, we find the motivation to think that distance is not important at all, what's really important is to find the open sets, so welcome to topology." Quoting her.



So I don't see as clear as her this sentence: "If we have a metric space $(X,d)$ and we change the distance on it, $(X,d')$, then an open ball on $(X,d)$ is an open ball on $(X,d')$, and that leads us to say that all open sets on $X$ are independent of what distance we choose to consider."



Can someone provide an intuitive explanation or a hint to deduce a formal proof to that?



Thanks for your time.










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  • Perhaps "change the distance" was intended to be (and perhaps was, by context of the conversation) something like "stretch or contract distances". The stretching/contracting doesn't have to be uniform in the sense that there is a constant $alpha > 0$ such that for each $x,y in X$ we have $d'(x,y) = alpha d(x,y),$ although this might have been the context. See Notions of equivalent metrics for more details.
    – Dave L. Renfro
    26 mins ago















up vote
3
down vote

favorite












I've just started topology on my grade. It makes a lot of sense to start introducing something that we've already been introduced to before on Calculus I, the notion of metric spaces.



My teacher said in class that if we have a metric space $(X,d)$ and we change the distance on it, $(X,d')$, then an open ball on $(X,d)$ is an open ball on $(X,d')$, and that leads us to say that all open sets on $X$ are independent of what distance we choose to consider.



"After that, we find the motivation to think that distance is not important at all, what's really important is to find the open sets, so welcome to topology." Quoting her.



So I don't see as clear as her this sentence: "If we have a metric space $(X,d)$ and we change the distance on it, $(X,d')$, then an open ball on $(X,d)$ is an open ball on $(X,d')$, and that leads us to say that all open sets on $X$ are independent of what distance we choose to consider."



Can someone provide an intuitive explanation or a hint to deduce a formal proof to that?



Thanks for your time.










share|cite|improve this question























  • Perhaps "change the distance" was intended to be (and perhaps was, by context of the conversation) something like "stretch or contract distances". The stretching/contracting doesn't have to be uniform in the sense that there is a constant $alpha > 0$ such that for each $x,y in X$ we have $d'(x,y) = alpha d(x,y),$ although this might have been the context. See Notions of equivalent metrics for more details.
    – Dave L. Renfro
    26 mins ago













up vote
3
down vote

favorite









up vote
3
down vote

favorite











I've just started topology on my grade. It makes a lot of sense to start introducing something that we've already been introduced to before on Calculus I, the notion of metric spaces.



My teacher said in class that if we have a metric space $(X,d)$ and we change the distance on it, $(X,d')$, then an open ball on $(X,d)$ is an open ball on $(X,d')$, and that leads us to say that all open sets on $X$ are independent of what distance we choose to consider.



"After that, we find the motivation to think that distance is not important at all, what's really important is to find the open sets, so welcome to topology." Quoting her.



So I don't see as clear as her this sentence: "If we have a metric space $(X,d)$ and we change the distance on it, $(X,d')$, then an open ball on $(X,d)$ is an open ball on $(X,d')$, and that leads us to say that all open sets on $X$ are independent of what distance we choose to consider."



Can someone provide an intuitive explanation or a hint to deduce a formal proof to that?



Thanks for your time.










share|cite|improve this question















I've just started topology on my grade. It makes a lot of sense to start introducing something that we've already been introduced to before on Calculus I, the notion of metric spaces.



My teacher said in class that if we have a metric space $(X,d)$ and we change the distance on it, $(X,d')$, then an open ball on $(X,d)$ is an open ball on $(X,d')$, and that leads us to say that all open sets on $X$ are independent of what distance we choose to consider.



"After that, we find the motivation to think that distance is not important at all, what's really important is to find the open sets, so welcome to topology." Quoting her.



So I don't see as clear as her this sentence: "If we have a metric space $(X,d)$ and we change the distance on it, $(X,d')$, then an open ball on $(X,d)$ is an open ball on $(X,d')$, and that leads us to say that all open sets on $X$ are independent of what distance we choose to consider."



Can someone provide an intuitive explanation or a hint to deduce a formal proof to that?



Thanks for your time.







general-topology metric-spaces






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edited 1 hour ago









José Carlos Santos

121k16101185




121k16101185










asked 1 hour ago









Relure

1,975833




1,975833











  • Perhaps "change the distance" was intended to be (and perhaps was, by context of the conversation) something like "stretch or contract distances". The stretching/contracting doesn't have to be uniform in the sense that there is a constant $alpha > 0$ such that for each $x,y in X$ we have $d'(x,y) = alpha d(x,y),$ although this might have been the context. See Notions of equivalent metrics for more details.
    – Dave L. Renfro
    26 mins ago

















  • Perhaps "change the distance" was intended to be (and perhaps was, by context of the conversation) something like "stretch or contract distances". The stretching/contracting doesn't have to be uniform in the sense that there is a constant $alpha > 0$ such that for each $x,y in X$ we have $d'(x,y) = alpha d(x,y),$ although this might have been the context. See Notions of equivalent metrics for more details.
    – Dave L. Renfro
    26 mins ago
















Perhaps "change the distance" was intended to be (and perhaps was, by context of the conversation) something like "stretch or contract distances". The stretching/contracting doesn't have to be uniform in the sense that there is a constant $alpha > 0$ such that for each $x,y in X$ we have $d'(x,y) = alpha d(x,y),$ although this might have been the context. See Notions of equivalent metrics for more details.
– Dave L. Renfro
26 mins ago





Perhaps "change the distance" was intended to be (and perhaps was, by context of the conversation) something like "stretch or contract distances". The stretching/contracting doesn't have to be uniform in the sense that there is a constant $alpha > 0$ such that for each $x,y in X$ we have $d'(x,y) = alpha d(x,y),$ although this might have been the context. See Notions of equivalent metrics for more details.
– Dave L. Renfro
26 mins ago











3 Answers
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I cannot explain that since it is trivially false. For instance, if we, on $mathbb R$, consider the discrete distance$$d(x,y)=begincases1&text if xneq y\0&text otherwise.endcases$$ and if $d'$ is the usual distance, then $0$ is an open set in $(mathbbR,d)$ (being equal to $B_1(0)$), but not in $(mathbbR,d')$.






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    2
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    I think what your teacher meant is "if we change $(X,d)$ to $(X,d')$ in such a way that open balls in $(X,d)$ coincide with open balls in $(X,d')$ then open sets coincide, meaning they are independent on the choice of the metric". Otherwise the statement is not true.



    An example would be $X$ with at least two points and with trivial metrics. For a given real number $c>0$ put



    $$d_c(x,y)=begincasesc& xneq y\ 0&textotherwiseendcases$$



    and note that for any two different $cneq c'$ we have $d_cneq d_c'$ but open balls coincide and thus generated topologies coincide as well.



    And so from the topological point of view the choice of $c$ is not important at all.






    share|cite|improve this answer






















    • By "coincide" do you mean that every element $xin X$ that has an open ball $B_d$ centered on $x$ has an open ball $B_d'$ centered on $x$ too right?
      – Relure
      1 hour ago










    • @Relure By coincide I mean that $B_d(x,r)=B_d'(x,r)$.
      – freakish
      1 hour ago

















    up vote
    1
    down vote













    As José Carlos Santos already proved by counterexample, in that generality the statement is false. However, with a slight addition, you get a true statement:




    If you have two different metrics $d$, $d'$ on the same set, such that for every point $p$, every open ball of $d$ around $p$ contains an open ball of $d'$ around $p$ and vice versa, then both generate the same topology.




    The proof is simple: An open set in a metric-induced topology is, by definition, a set that contains an open ball around each of its points. But since each open ball of one of the metrics contains an open ball of the other metrics around the same point, that first-metric-open sets also contains an open ball of the other metric around each of its points, and therefore is other-metric-open. The same argument works the other way round.






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      3 Answers
      3






      active

      oldest

      votes








      3 Answers
      3






      active

      oldest

      votes









      active

      oldest

      votes






      active

      oldest

      votes








      up vote
      3
      down vote













      I cannot explain that since it is trivially false. For instance, if we, on $mathbb R$, consider the discrete distance$$d(x,y)=begincases1&text if xneq y\0&text otherwise.endcases$$ and if $d'$ is the usual distance, then $0$ is an open set in $(mathbbR,d)$ (being equal to $B_1(0)$), but not in $(mathbbR,d')$.






      share|cite|improve this answer
























        up vote
        3
        down vote













        I cannot explain that since it is trivially false. For instance, if we, on $mathbb R$, consider the discrete distance$$d(x,y)=begincases1&text if xneq y\0&text otherwise.endcases$$ and if $d'$ is the usual distance, then $0$ is an open set in $(mathbbR,d)$ (being equal to $B_1(0)$), but not in $(mathbbR,d')$.






        share|cite|improve this answer






















          up vote
          3
          down vote










          up vote
          3
          down vote









          I cannot explain that since it is trivially false. For instance, if we, on $mathbb R$, consider the discrete distance$$d(x,y)=begincases1&text if xneq y\0&text otherwise.endcases$$ and if $d'$ is the usual distance, then $0$ is an open set in $(mathbbR,d)$ (being equal to $B_1(0)$), but not in $(mathbbR,d')$.






          share|cite|improve this answer












          I cannot explain that since it is trivially false. For instance, if we, on $mathbb R$, consider the discrete distance$$d(x,y)=begincases1&text if xneq y\0&text otherwise.endcases$$ and if $d'$ is the usual distance, then $0$ is an open set in $(mathbbR,d)$ (being equal to $B_1(0)$), but not in $(mathbbR,d')$.







          share|cite|improve this answer












          share|cite|improve this answer



          share|cite|improve this answer










          answered 1 hour ago









          José Carlos Santos

          121k16101185




          121k16101185




















              up vote
              2
              down vote













              I think what your teacher meant is "if we change $(X,d)$ to $(X,d')$ in such a way that open balls in $(X,d)$ coincide with open balls in $(X,d')$ then open sets coincide, meaning they are independent on the choice of the metric". Otherwise the statement is not true.



              An example would be $X$ with at least two points and with trivial metrics. For a given real number $c>0$ put



              $$d_c(x,y)=begincasesc& xneq y\ 0&textotherwiseendcases$$



              and note that for any two different $cneq c'$ we have $d_cneq d_c'$ but open balls coincide and thus generated topologies coincide as well.



              And so from the topological point of view the choice of $c$ is not important at all.






              share|cite|improve this answer






















              • By "coincide" do you mean that every element $xin X$ that has an open ball $B_d$ centered on $x$ has an open ball $B_d'$ centered on $x$ too right?
                – Relure
                1 hour ago










              • @Relure By coincide I mean that $B_d(x,r)=B_d'(x,r)$.
                – freakish
                1 hour ago














              up vote
              2
              down vote













              I think what your teacher meant is "if we change $(X,d)$ to $(X,d')$ in such a way that open balls in $(X,d)$ coincide with open balls in $(X,d')$ then open sets coincide, meaning they are independent on the choice of the metric". Otherwise the statement is not true.



              An example would be $X$ with at least two points and with trivial metrics. For a given real number $c>0$ put



              $$d_c(x,y)=begincasesc& xneq y\ 0&textotherwiseendcases$$



              and note that for any two different $cneq c'$ we have $d_cneq d_c'$ but open balls coincide and thus generated topologies coincide as well.



              And so from the topological point of view the choice of $c$ is not important at all.






              share|cite|improve this answer






















              • By "coincide" do you mean that every element $xin X$ that has an open ball $B_d$ centered on $x$ has an open ball $B_d'$ centered on $x$ too right?
                – Relure
                1 hour ago










              • @Relure By coincide I mean that $B_d(x,r)=B_d'(x,r)$.
                – freakish
                1 hour ago












              up vote
              2
              down vote










              up vote
              2
              down vote









              I think what your teacher meant is "if we change $(X,d)$ to $(X,d')$ in such a way that open balls in $(X,d)$ coincide with open balls in $(X,d')$ then open sets coincide, meaning they are independent on the choice of the metric". Otherwise the statement is not true.



              An example would be $X$ with at least two points and with trivial metrics. For a given real number $c>0$ put



              $$d_c(x,y)=begincasesc& xneq y\ 0&textotherwiseendcases$$



              and note that for any two different $cneq c'$ we have $d_cneq d_c'$ but open balls coincide and thus generated topologies coincide as well.



              And so from the topological point of view the choice of $c$ is not important at all.






              share|cite|improve this answer














              I think what your teacher meant is "if we change $(X,d)$ to $(X,d')$ in such a way that open balls in $(X,d)$ coincide with open balls in $(X,d')$ then open sets coincide, meaning they are independent on the choice of the metric". Otherwise the statement is not true.



              An example would be $X$ with at least two points and with trivial metrics. For a given real number $c>0$ put



              $$d_c(x,y)=begincasesc& xneq y\ 0&textotherwiseendcases$$



              and note that for any two different $cneq c'$ we have $d_cneq d_c'$ but open balls coincide and thus generated topologies coincide as well.



              And so from the topological point of view the choice of $c$ is not important at all.







              share|cite|improve this answer














              share|cite|improve this answer



              share|cite|improve this answer








              edited 1 hour ago

























              answered 1 hour ago









              freakish

              8,8331524




              8,8331524











              • By "coincide" do you mean that every element $xin X$ that has an open ball $B_d$ centered on $x$ has an open ball $B_d'$ centered on $x$ too right?
                – Relure
                1 hour ago










              • @Relure By coincide I mean that $B_d(x,r)=B_d'(x,r)$.
                – freakish
                1 hour ago
















              • By "coincide" do you mean that every element $xin X$ that has an open ball $B_d$ centered on $x$ has an open ball $B_d'$ centered on $x$ too right?
                – Relure
                1 hour ago










              • @Relure By coincide I mean that $B_d(x,r)=B_d'(x,r)$.
                – freakish
                1 hour ago















              By "coincide" do you mean that every element $xin X$ that has an open ball $B_d$ centered on $x$ has an open ball $B_d'$ centered on $x$ too right?
              – Relure
              1 hour ago




              By "coincide" do you mean that every element $xin X$ that has an open ball $B_d$ centered on $x$ has an open ball $B_d'$ centered on $x$ too right?
              – Relure
              1 hour ago












              @Relure By coincide I mean that $B_d(x,r)=B_d'(x,r)$.
              – freakish
              1 hour ago




              @Relure By coincide I mean that $B_d(x,r)=B_d'(x,r)$.
              – freakish
              1 hour ago










              up vote
              1
              down vote













              As José Carlos Santos already proved by counterexample, in that generality the statement is false. However, with a slight addition, you get a true statement:




              If you have two different metrics $d$, $d'$ on the same set, such that for every point $p$, every open ball of $d$ around $p$ contains an open ball of $d'$ around $p$ and vice versa, then both generate the same topology.




              The proof is simple: An open set in a metric-induced topology is, by definition, a set that contains an open ball around each of its points. But since each open ball of one of the metrics contains an open ball of the other metrics around the same point, that first-metric-open sets also contains an open ball of the other metric around each of its points, and therefore is other-metric-open. The same argument works the other way round.






              share|cite|improve this answer
























                up vote
                1
                down vote













                As José Carlos Santos already proved by counterexample, in that generality the statement is false. However, with a slight addition, you get a true statement:




                If you have two different metrics $d$, $d'$ on the same set, such that for every point $p$, every open ball of $d$ around $p$ contains an open ball of $d'$ around $p$ and vice versa, then both generate the same topology.




                The proof is simple: An open set in a metric-induced topology is, by definition, a set that contains an open ball around each of its points. But since each open ball of one of the metrics contains an open ball of the other metrics around the same point, that first-metric-open sets also contains an open ball of the other metric around each of its points, and therefore is other-metric-open. The same argument works the other way round.






                share|cite|improve this answer






















                  up vote
                  1
                  down vote










                  up vote
                  1
                  down vote









                  As José Carlos Santos already proved by counterexample, in that generality the statement is false. However, with a slight addition, you get a true statement:




                  If you have two different metrics $d$, $d'$ on the same set, such that for every point $p$, every open ball of $d$ around $p$ contains an open ball of $d'$ around $p$ and vice versa, then both generate the same topology.




                  The proof is simple: An open set in a metric-induced topology is, by definition, a set that contains an open ball around each of its points. But since each open ball of one of the metrics contains an open ball of the other metrics around the same point, that first-metric-open sets also contains an open ball of the other metric around each of its points, and therefore is other-metric-open. The same argument works the other way round.






                  share|cite|improve this answer












                  As José Carlos Santos already proved by counterexample, in that generality the statement is false. However, with a slight addition, you get a true statement:




                  If you have two different metrics $d$, $d'$ on the same set, such that for every point $p$, every open ball of $d$ around $p$ contains an open ball of $d'$ around $p$ and vice versa, then both generate the same topology.




                  The proof is simple: An open set in a metric-induced topology is, by definition, a set that contains an open ball around each of its points. But since each open ball of one of the metrics contains an open ball of the other metrics around the same point, that first-metric-open sets also contains an open ball of the other metric around each of its points, and therefore is other-metric-open. The same argument works the other way round.







                  share|cite|improve this answer












                  share|cite|improve this answer



                  share|cite|improve this answer










                  answered 33 mins ago









                  celtschk

                  29k75498




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