Continuous Mapping on Union of Opens
Theorem
Let $T = \left({X, \tau}\right)$ and $S = \left({Y,\sigma}\right)$ be topological spaces.
Let $I$ be an indexing set.
For all $i \in I$, let $C_i$ be open in $T$.
Let $f: X \to Y$ be a mapping such that the restriction $f \restriction_{C_i}$ is continuous for all $i \in I$.
Then $f$ is continuous on $C = \displaystyle \bigcup_{i\in I} C_i$, i.e., $f \restriction_{C}$ is continuous.
Proof
Let $V \subset S$ be an open set.
By assumption, we have that, for all $i \in I$, $U_i = \left({f \restriction_{C_i} }\right)^{-1} \left({V}\right)$ is also open.
From the definition of a restriction, we have that $U_i = C_i \cap f^{-1} \left({V}\right)$.
Therefore, we can compute:
| \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \left({f \restriction_{C} }\right)^{-1} \left({V}\right)\) | \(=\) | \(\displaystyle C \cap f^{-1} \left({V}\right)\) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | Definition of restriction | ||
| \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(=\) | \(\displaystyle \left({ \bigcup_{i \in I} C_i }\right) \cap f^{-1} \left({V}\right)\) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | Definition of $C$ | ||
| \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(=\) | \(\displaystyle \bigcup_{i \in I} \left({ C_i \cap f^{-1} \left({V}\right) }\right)\) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | Intersection Distributes over Union | ||
| \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(=\) | \(\displaystyle \bigcup_{i \in I} U_i\) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | \(\displaystyle \) | Definition of $U_i$ |
That is, $U = \left({f \restriction_{C} }\right)^{-1} \left({V}\right)$ is a union of open sets.
Therefore, $U$ is itself open by definition of a topology.
It follows that $f \restriction_{C}$ is also continuous by the definition of continuity.
$\blacksquare$
See also
- Continuous Mapping on Finite Union of Closed Sets for an analogous statement for closed sets.