Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/ib/paper-2/4e/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 2 4E a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Let be a compact set of a Hausdorff space . For any and each , the Hausdorff property gives disjoint open sets and . The sets cover ; compactness supplies a finite subcover . The open set contains and misses every , hence misses . Thus is open, and every compact subset of a Hausdorff space is closed. The empty-set case is immediate.
Since with its usual topology is Hausdorff, its compact sets are closed. The open cover of has a finite subcover of any compact set . Taking the largest index in that subcover gives , so is a bounded set. This proves the required direction of the Heine-Borel theorem without assuming its converse.
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