Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/ib/paper-1/12e/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 1 12E a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
If a nonempty subset is not an interval, there are and with . The disjoint nonempty relatively open sets and form a separation, so is not connected.
Conversely, suppose an interval had a separation into relatively open nonempty sets . Choose , interchanging the names if necessary so . Put . Because contains a relative neighbourhood of , ; because contains a relative neighbourhood of , . Also . If , relative openness supplies points of just above , contradicting the supremum. If , a relative neighbourhood of excludes points of approaching from below, again contradicting the supremum. Thus every interval is connected, including a singleton and unbounded or open intervals.
TakeIt is closed, because its only accumulation point is and that point is included, and bounded. The Heine-Borel theorem makes it compact. The connected components of its complement are preciselyEach is an interval and therefore connected; none can be enlarged inside the complement across one of the intervening points of .
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