Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2019/ib/paper-3/3g/b/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 3 3G b Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
First, compactness makes totally bounded: for every positive integer , the open cover by balls of radius has a finite subcover. Given a sequence, repeatedly choose a ball of radius containing infinitely many terms of the subsequence retained at the preceding stage. Taking a diagonal subsequence , any two terms with indices at least lie in one ball of radius , so their distance is below . The diagonal subsequence is therefore a Cauchy sequence.
A compact metric space is complete. To see this without assuming sequential compactness, let be Cauchy and put . These nonempty closed sets are nested and have the finite intersection property; compactness gives a point . Given , a sufficiently late tail has diameter below , and because lies in its closure, every point of that tail lies within of . Thus .
The Cauchy subsequence constructed above consequently converges in . Hence every compact metric space is sequentially compact.
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