 Solution

Let $(f_n)$ be a Cauchy sequence in the L2 space $L^2(\mathbb{R})$, choosing measurable representatives. There is a subsequence $(f_{n_k})$ withWrite $d_k=f_{n_{k+1}}-f_{n_k}$ and $S_N={\sum }_{k=1}^N|d_k|$. Repeated Minkowski inequality gives $\Vert S_N{\Vert }_2\le {\sum }_{k=1}^N{2}^{-k}\le 1$. As $S_N^2$ increases pointwise, the monotone convergence theorem givesHence $S={\sum }_k|d_k|$ is finite almost everywhere and represents an L2 function. Definewhere the series converges, and set $f=0$ on the exceptional Lebesgue null set. It is a measurable function, and $|f|\le |f_{n_1}|+S$ almost everywhere, so Minkowski inequality gives $f\in L^2(\mathbb{R})$.

For fixed $k$, Fatou's lemma applied to squares of finite tails and then Minkowski inequality giveThus the subsequence converges to $f$ in norm. Given $\epsilon >0$, choose a sufficiently late $n_k$ with $\Vert f-f_{n_k}{\Vert }_2<\epsilon /2$ and with $\Vert f_n-f_{n_k}{\Vert }_2<\epsilon /2$ for every sufficiently large $n$, using the original Cauchy sequence property. The triangle inequality then gives $\Vert f_n-f{\Vert }_2<\epsilon$. ThereforeThis proves the needed instance of completeness of Lp spaces without assuming the result being proved.