Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2023/ib/paper-1/10g/solution

A Cauchy sequence in a metric space satisfies: for every there is such that whenever . A complete metric space is one in which every Cauchy sequence converges to a point of the space.
Every Cauchy sequence is bounded. Choose such that for , and put
Then every term lies in the ball .
Now suppose is complete and is a decreasing sequence of nonempty closed sets with . Choose . Given , choose with . For , both points lie in , so . Completeness gives . For each fixed , the tail lies in the closed set , hence . Therefore
Conversely, assume the nested-set property and let be Cauchy. Define
These sets are nonempty, closed, and decreasing. The Cauchy property implies ; taking a closure does not change the diameter. Choose . Since ,
Thus every Cauchy sequence converges and is complete. This proves the Cantor intersection theorem characterization.
The contraction mapping theorem states that a contraction of a nonempty complete metric space has a unique fixed point.
For each , the map is a contraction with the common constant , so it has a unique fixed point . This defines the required unique function. Fix . The fixed-point identities and the triangle inequality give
Consequently
The numerator tends to zero as by the assumed continuity for the fixed point . Hence is continuous, an instance of continuous dependence of the fixed point of a uniform contraction.

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