Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/prelims/mathematics-ii/1/a/ii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Oxford 2015 Prelims Mathematics II 1 a ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
The Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem states: every bounded sequence of real numbers has a convergent subsequence.
By the monotone subsequence theorem proved in the preceding part, a bounded sequence has a monotone subsequence . It inherits the bounds of . For completeness, the bounded monotone sequence theorem follows directly from completeness of the real numbers. If is increasing, let . For every , the definition of supremum supplies with . Thenso . If is decreasing, apply the increasing case to , or use its infimum. Thus in either case
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