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Denote the boolean closure of a family of sets $\mathcal S$ by $\mathcal B(\mathcal F)$, then in a metric space it is well known that $\mathcal B(\mathcal F) = \mathcal B(\mathcal G) = \mathcal B(\mathcal F \cup \mathcal G) \subseteq F_{\sigma} \cap G_{\delta}$. Now my question, is

  1. $\mathcal F \cup \mathcal G$, i.e. the family of all open or closed sets, closed under boolean operations, i.e. $\mathcal B(\mathcal F \cup \mathcal G) \subseteq \mathcal F \cup \mathcal B$?
  2. Is the family $\mathcal F_{\sigma} \cup \mathcal G_{\delta}$ closed under boolean operations, i.e. $\mathcal B(\mathcal F_{\sigma} \cup \mathcal G_{\delta}) \subseteq F_{\sigma} \cup G_{\delta}$?
Asaf Karagila
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StefanH
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  • Probably $\cal B(S)$ in the first sentence? – Asaf Karagila Mar 24 '14 at 15:17
  • As a side note, apparently elements of $\mathcal{B}(\mathcal{F} \cup \mathcal{G})$ are called "constructible sets". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructible_set_(topology) The poster probably already knows this, but it was new to me, so for anyone else interested. – hasManyStupidQuestions Feb 11 '22 at 14:22

1 Answers1

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  1. $\mathcal{F} \cup \mathcal{G}$ is not closed under Boolean operations. Consider $( -1 , 0 ) \cup [ 0 , 1 ]$.

    The fact that $\mathcal{B} ( \mathcal{F} ) \subseteq F_\sigma \cap G_\delta$ rests heavily on the fact that closed subsets of metric spaces are Gδ (and so open sets are Fσ).

  2. Similarly, the $F_\sigma \cup G_\delta$ is not closed under Boolean operations: consider the union of two sets "living" on different intervals in $\mathbb{R}$, one which is Gδ but not Fσ, and the other which is Fσ but not Gδ (for example, $( - \infty , 0 ) \setminus \mathbb{Q}$ and $( 0 , + \infty ) \cap \mathbb{Q}$).

user642796
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