Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2021/prelims/mathematics-ii/1/c/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Oxford 2021 Prelims Mathematics II 1 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
The Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem states that every bounded sequence of real numbers has a convergent subsequence. It is enough to select infinitely many terms of the tangent sequence that stay uniformly bounded.
For each positive integer , choose , using the floor function. Then . Moreover , so these are strictly increasing indices. By the period and monotonicity of the tangent on ,Thus is a bounded subsequence. Applying the Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem to it gives a convergent subsequence, which is also a subsequence of the original sequence. Such a convergent subsequence therefore exists.
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