Paper 2, Section II, H

Topics in Analysis
Part II, 2020

Let TT be a (closed) triangle in R2\mathbb{R}^{2} with edges I,J,KI, J, K. Let A,B,CA, B, C, be closed subsets of TT, such that IA,JB,KCI \subset A, J \subset B, K \subset C and T=ABCT=A \cup B \cup C. Prove that ABCA \cap B \cap C is non-empty.

Deduce that there is no continuous map f:DDf: D \rightarrow \partial D such that f(p)=pf(p)=p for all pDp \in \partial D, where D={(x,y)R2:x2+y21}D=\left\{(x, y) \in \mathbb{R}^{2}: x^{2}+y^{2} \leqslant 1\right\} is the closed unit disc and D={(x,y)R2:x2+y2=1}\partial D=\left\{(x, y) \in \mathbb{R}^{2}: x^{2}+y^{2}=1\right\} is its boundary.

Let now α,β,γD\alpha, \beta, \gamma \subset \partial D be three closed arcs, each arc making an angle of 2π/32 \pi / 3 (in radians) in D\partial D and αβγ=D\alpha \cup \beta \cup \gamma=\partial D. Let P,QP, Q and RR be open subsets of DD, such that αP\alpha \subset P, βQ\beta \subset Q and γR\gamma \subset R. Suppose that PQR=DP \cup Q \cup R=D. Show that PQRP \cap Q \cap R is non-empty. [You may assume that for each closed bounded subset KR2,d(x,K)=min{xy:yK}K \subset \mathbb{R}^{2}, d(x, K)=\min \{\|x-y\|: y \in K\} defines a continuous function on R2\mathbb{R}^{2}.]