Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/ib/paper-4/13e/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 4 13E a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Let be an open cover of in its subspace topology. Write with each open in . Since is a closed set, is open, and is an open cover of the compact space . A finite subcover restricts to a finite subcover of . Hence the closed subset is compact.
If is an open cover of in its subspace topology, the inverse images under the restricted continuous map form an open cover of . Take a finite subcover; the corresponding cover . Thus the continuous image is compact. Neither argument assumes a Hausdorff space or asserts that a compact set must be closed set in an arbitrary topological space.
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