Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-options-ii-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2004/e/e3/solution
Past exam of the options II course of the University of Oxford 2004 E E3 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
The nested closed sets have the finite intersection property: the intersection of finitely many is the one with the largest index and is nonempty. Compactness gives .
For an open neighbourhood of the intersection, suppose no were contained in . Then would be nested, nonempty and closed. The same argument gives a point in all , contradicting . Hence
For connectedness, suppose were a separation into two nonempty relatively closed sets. Since is compact, are disjoint compact subsets of . The supplied separation fact gives disjoint open neighbourhoods . Their union contains , so some lies in that union. But meets both neighbourhoods, since it contains and . Its intersections with the two neighbourhoods are then a separation, contradicting its connectedness. Thus the nested intersection is connected.
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