Examples of closed sets with empty interior

Here are a few intuitive examples

  • Every singleton set $\{p\}$
  • The circle $\{(x,y) \in \mathbb{R}^2 : x^2 + y^2 = r^2\}$.
  • The line $y=mx + b$

The latter two can be generalized of course.

Edit: Here's a bit more intuition: the plane in $\mathbb{R^3}$ enter image description here

Take some point that doesn't lie in the plane. Do you see how you can find an open ball around it which doesn't intersect the plane? Think of the plane as being "thin", if you will. This tells you its complement is open, so the plane is closed. And by the "thin-ness", no point on the plane has an open ball around it contained in the plane.

So now we have a point, a line, and plane as being closed nowhere dense sets in $\mathbb{R}, \mathbb{R^2}, \mathbb{R^3}$ respectively. Can you try to generalize to find a closed set with empty interior in $\mathbb{R^n}$?


Consider every finite set in the euclideian topology in $\mathbb{R}$

Also $\mathbb{Z}$ is closed because $\mathbb{R}$ \ $\mathbb{Z}=\bigcup_{n \in \mathbb{Z}}(n,n+1)$

Or the set $A= \{1/n | n \in \mathbb{N}\} \cup \{0\}$

Or the Cantor set which does not contain an interval but it is closed as an intersection of closed sets.

Or Every line and curve in the plane.

All these sets of course with the euclideian topology.

Also the finite sets in $\mathbb{N}$ with respect to the cofinite topology.


I'm surprised no one proposed this one : $\emptyset$.