The Jordan Curve Theorem Via the Brouwer Fixed Point Theorem

Author(s): Ryuji Maehara

Source: The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 91, No. 10 (Dec., 1984), pp. 641-643
Published by: Mathematical Association of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2323369 .
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1984] NOTES 641

Step 11. Since L = AR, showthat(5) impliesRGR' = AGA = G. Equatingcomponents

in
RG = GR, notingthatRRt= I, showthat

R =[+1 ?]

whereS is 3 x 3 orthogonal in the standardbasis. Hence R has the same formin the basis
eo, n, V3, v4.This concludestheproofoutline.
The physicalinterpretation of thetheorem is worthnoting:The theoremclaimsthatif L is
linear and satisfies(2) and if R is orientation in the sense that Rll = +1 and
preserving
detS = + 1, thenL is thetransformation of coordinatesfroma rocketto a lab framein which
case n pointsin thedirection ofmotionof therocket.FinallynotethatL maybe decomposedas
L = RA. The readerwillfindthattherelationships amongR, A, R, A haveinterestingcomputa-
tionaldetails.
References
1. Morton Hamermesh,Group Theoryand its Applicationto PhysicalProblems,Addison-Wesley,Reading,
MA, 1964.
2. KennethHoffmanand Ray Kunze, LinearAlgebra,Prentice-Hall, EnglewoodCliffs,NJ,1971.
3. L. Janossy,Theoryof RelativityBased on PhysicalReality,AkademiaiKiado, Budapest,1971.
4. Ian R. Porteous,TopologicalGroups,Van NostrandReinhold,London, 1969.
5. H. P. Robertsonand Thomas W. Noonan, Relativitivy and Cosmology,W. B. Saunders,Philadelphia,1969.
6. E. F. Taylor and J.A. Wheeler,SpacetimePhysics,Freeman,1966.
7. HermannWeyl,The Theoryof Groups and QuantumMechanics,Dover,New York, 1950.

THE JORDAN CURVE THEOREM VIA THE BROUWER FIXED POINT THEOREM

RYuJiMAEHARA
Department
ofMathematics,
University
ofRyukyu,
Okinawa,Japan

A homeomorphic imageof a closedinterval[a, b] (a < b) is calledan arc and a homeomor-

phic imageof a circleis calleda Jordancurve.One of themostclassicaltheorems in topologyis
(JordanCurveTheorem).Thecomplement
THEopREM in theplaneR2 ofa JordancurveJ consists
oftwocomponents,
eachofwhichhasJ as itsboundary.
Sincethefirstrigorous
proofgivenbyVeblen[4]in 1905,a variety ofelementary
(and lengthy)
proofshavebeenprovidedbymanyauthors.Amongthem,theone givenby Moise [3] is intuitive
and transparent
yetlengthy.The purposeof thisnoteis to providea shortproofby modifying
Moise's method.In orderto avoid thetediousarguments,we will use thefollowingcelebrated
theoremof Brouwer(foran elementary proof,forexample,see [1]).
THEOREM (BrouwerFixed PointTheorem).Everycontinuous
mapfroma diskintoitselfhas a
fixedpoint.
To beginwith,we notetwosimplefactsconcerning thecomponentsof R2 - J, whereJ is a
Jordancurve:(a) R 2- J has exactlyone unboundedcomponent, and (b) each componentof
R-2- J is pathconnected
and open.The assertion(a) followsfromtheboundedness of J, and (b)
fromthelocal path-connectedness
of R2 and theclosednessof J.
LEMMA1. If R2 - J is notconnected,
theneachcomponent
hasJ as itsboundary.
Proof.By assumption,R2 - J has at least two components.
Let U be an arbitrary
compo-
nent.Since any othercomponentW is disjointfromU and open, W containsno pointof the
closure U and hence no point of the boundaryU rl Uc of U. Thus U A U' c J. Suppose
U A U'c* J. Then thereexistsan arc A c J suchthat
(#) Un UccA.
642 RYUJIMAEHARA [December

We willshowthatthisleads to a contradiction.
By thepreceding
remark(a), R2 - J has at least
one boundedcomponent. Let o be a pointin a boundedcomponent;if U itselfis boundedwe
choose o in U. Let D be a largediskwithcentero suchthatits interior
containsJ. Then the
boundaryS of D is containedin the unboundedcomponentof R2 - J. Since arc A is
homeomorphicto the interval[0,1], the identitymap A -- A has a continuousextension
r: D -* A by the Tietze ExtensionTheorem(see, forexample, [2]). We definea map q: D -' D -
{ o }, accordingas U is boundedor not,by
( ~r(z) forz E=U, z forzeGU,
q(z) (r()for
Z z Uc, or q(z) r(z) forzE Uc
respectively. of thetwoclosedsetsU and Uc liesin A on whichr is the
By (#), theintersection
identitymap. Thus q is well definedand continuous.Note that q(z) = z if z E S. Let
p: D - { o } -> S be thenaturalprojectionand let t: S -- S be the antipodalmap. Then the
compositiont -p q: D -* S c D has no fixedpoint.This contradicts theBrouwerfixedpoint
theorem.
Note thatthepreceding proofimplicitlycontainsa proofthatno arc separatesR2, whichis
oftena lemmato theJordancurvetheorem.
We need anotherlemma for our purpose. Let E(a, b; c, d) denote the rectangularset
{(x,y)la < x < b,c < y S d} in theplane R2, wherea < b and c < d.
LEMMA2. Let h(t) = (h1(t), h2(t)) and v(t) = ( v1(t), V2() ) 1 < t 1) be continuous
paths in E(a, b; c, d) satisfying
(#:$)~ ~~h h( -1) =a, h (1) = b, V2(-l) C, V2(1)= d.
Then the twopaths meet,i.e., h(s) = v(t) for some s, t in [-1,1].
Proof. Supposeh(s) * v(t) forall s, t. Let N(s, t) denotethemaximum-norm
of h(s) - v(t),
i.e.,
N(s, t) = Max( 1hl(s) - vl(t) 1, Ih2(s) - V2( t) I}
Then N(s, t) # 0 forall s, t. We definea continuous
map F fromE(- 1,1; -1,1) intoitselfby
=
/v1(t) -
h1(s) h2(s) -
V2(t)
F(s,t)

Note thattheimageof F is in theboundaryof E(- 1,1; -1,1). To see thatF has no fixedpoint,
assume F(so, to) = (so, to). By the above remark,we have IsoI = 1 or ItoI = 1. Suppose, for
example, so = -1. Then by (#X#), the first coordinate of F(-1, to), (vl(to) -
h1(-1))/N(-1,to), is nonnegative and hence cannot equal so(= -1). Similarly, the other
of IsoI = 1 or ItoI = 1 cannotoccur.Thiscontradicts
possibilities theBrouwerfixedpointtheorem
since E(- 1,1; -1,1) is homeomorphic to a disk.
We are now readyto provetheJordancurvetheorem. By Lemma1, we need onlyshowthat
R2 - J has one and onlyone boundedcomponent. The proofwillconsistof thefollowing three
steps:Establishing thenotationand defininga pointzo in R2 - J; provingthatthecomponentU
containingzo is bounded;and provingthatthereis no boundedcomponent otherthanU.
Since J is compact,thereexistpointsa, b in J suchthatthedistanceIla - bllis thelargest.
We may assume that a = (-1,0) and b = (1,0). Then the rectangular set E(-1,1; -2,2)
containsJ, and itsboundaryF meetsJ at exactlytwopointsa and b. Let n be themiddlepoint
of thetop side of E( -1,1; - 2,2), and s themiddlepointof thebottomside; i.e., n = (0,2) and
s = (0, - 2). The segment ns meetsJ by Lemma2. Let / be they-maximal point(thatmeansthe
point(0,y) withmaximaly) in J n ns. Pointsa and b divideJ intotwoarcs;we denotetheone
containing/ by Jnand the otherby Js. Let m be the y-minimal pointin Jnn ns (possibly,
/= m). Then thesegmentms meetsJs;otherwise, thepathnl + Im + ms (whereIm denotesthe
subarcof Jnwithend points/ and m) couldnotmeetJs,contradicting Lemma2. Let p and q
1984] NOTES 643

denotethey-maximalpointand they-minimal pointin J,n ms, respectively.

Finally,let zo be
themiddlepointofthesegment
mp. (see Fig.1).

FIG. 1

Now we showthatU, thecomponent of R2 - J whichcontainszo, is bounded.Supposethat

U is unbounded.SinceU is pathconnected, thereexistsa patha in U fromzo to a pointoutside
E(- 1,1; - 2,2). Let w be thefirstpointat whicha meetstheboundaryF of E(-1, 1; - 2,2).
Denote by aw thepartof a fromzo to w. If w is on thelowerhalfof F, we can finda pathwsin
F fromw to s whichcontainsneithera norb. Now considerthepathnl + lm + mzO + aw + ws.
This pathdoes notmeetJs,contradicting Lemma2. Similarly, if w is on theupperhalfof F, the
+
path szo aw + wn fails to meet Jn, where wn is the shortestpath in F fromw to n. The
contradictionshowsthatU is a boundedcomponent.
Finallysuppose thatthereexistsanotherboundedcomponentW( # U) of R2 - J. Clearly
W c E(- 1,1; - 2,2). We denotebyf thepathnl + lm + mp + pq + qs,wherepq is thesubarc
of Js fromp to q. As seeneasily,fihas no pointof W. Since a and b are not on fi,thereare
circularneighborhoods suchthateach of themcontainsno pointof Pi.
Va,Vb of a, b, respectively,
By Lemma1, a and b arein theclosureW. Hence,thereexista, c W n Va and b, c W n Vb.
Let a,b, be a path in W froma, to bl. Then thepathaal + a,b1 + b1b failsto meetPi.This
contradictsLemma2 and completesourproof.
References

1. J. A. Bondy and U. S. R. Murty,Graph TheorywithApplications,NorthHolland, New York, 1976.

2. J. Dugundji,Topology,Allynand Bacon, Boston,1966.
3. E. E. Moise, GeometricTopology in Dimensions2 and 3, Springer-Verlag,Berlin-Heidelberg-NewYork,
1977.
4. 0. Veblen, Theoryof plane curvesin nonmetricalanalysissitus,Trans. Amer. Math. Soc., 6 (1905) 83-98.