Every Metric Spaces is Hausdorff

Theorem

We will prove this by proving a more general and constructive result which will trivially imply the Hausforff property.

Lemma

If \(x, y \in X\) with \(x \neq y\), then if \(r_x + r_y \leq d(x, y)\),

\[ B_{r_x}(x) \cap B_{r_y}(y) = \varnothing.\]

Proof

We prove this by the contrapositive, that is assume that

\[ a \in B_{r_x}(x) \cap B_{r_y}(y).\]

Therefore

\[ d(a, x) < r_x \quad \text{and} \quad d(a, y) < r_y.\]

Now, summing these inequalities and applying the triangle inequality we have that

\[ d(x, y) \leq d(a, x) + d(a, y) < r_x + r_y.\]

Therefore we have that \(d(x, y) < r_x + r_y\), and therefore by the contrapositive

\[ r_x + r_y \leq d(x, y) \implies B_{r_x}(x) \cap B_{r_y}(y) = \varnothing.\]

Now we prove the Hausdorff property.

Proof

For any \(x, y \in X\) with \(x \neq y\) let \(r_x = r_y = \frac{d(x, y)}{2}\). As such, \(r_x + r_y = \frac{d(x, y)}{2} \leq \frac{d(x, y)}{2}\) as required to apply our lemma. Therefore

\[ B_{r_x}(x) \cap B_{r_y}(y) = \varnothing.\]