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We first prove the needed Fredholm alternative for a compact operator without assuming self-adjointness. If $C$ is compact, the finite-rank approximation theorem for compact operators on a Hilbert space follows directly by covering the compact closure of $C$'s unit-ball image by finitely many balls of radius $\epsilon$, spanning their centers by a finite-dimensional space $E$, and using the orthogonal projection $P_E$. Then $\Vert C-P_{E}C\Vert \le \epsilon$.

Choose a finite-rank $F$ with $\Vert C-F\Vert <1$, put $E_0=C-F$, and factorThe first factor is invertible by the Neumann series, and $G$ has finite rank. With $V=\mathrm{ran}G$ and $H=V\oplus V^{\perp }$, the second factor has the triangular formIt is injective precisely when the finite-dimensional block $I_V-G{|}_V$ is injective, and onto precisely when that block is onto. These properties are equivalent in finite dimension. This proves that $I-C$ is injective if and only if it is onto; in that case its inverse is bounded.

For $\lambda \ne 0$, apply this result to $C=K/\lambda$. If $\lambda$ lies in the spectrum of a bounded operator $K$, then $K-\lambda I$ is not invertible, hence is not injective. Therefore every nonzero spectral point of $K$ is an eigenvalue. On its eigenspace $E_{\lambda }$, the operator $K$ equals $\lambda I$. Compactness of $K$ would make the closed unit ball of $E_{\lambda }$ compact after dividing by $\lambda$; part (a) forces $\dim E_{\lambda }<\infty$.

It remains to rule out infinitely many distinct eigenvalues away from zero. Suppose $|{\lambda }_n|\ge \epsilon >0$ are distinct, with respective eigenvectors $v_n$. Distinct eigenvalues give linearly independent eigenvectors. Let $V_n=\mathrm{span}(v_1,\dots ,v_n)$ and choose a unit vector $h_n\in V_n\cap V_{n-1}^{\perp }$. Since $V_n$ is invariant and $(K-{\lambda }_{n}I)V_n\subset V_{n-1}$,For $m<n$, $K{h}_m\in V_{n-1}$, and orthogonality gives $\Vert K{h}_n-K{h}_m\Vert \ge |{\lambda }_n|\ge \epsilon$. This contradicts compactness. Thus for each $\epsilon >0$ there are only finitely many distinct spectral points with modulus at least $\epsilon$.

Taking $\epsilon =1/j$ shows that the nonzero spectrum is countable; if it is infinite, its distinct elements can be enumerated as a sequence tending to zero. Since the spectrum is closed, zero then also belongs to it. In an infinite-dimensional space zero belongs to the spectrum even if there are only finitely many nonzero spectral points: an invertible compact $K$ would make $I=K^{-1}K$ compact, contradicting part (a). The only possible accumulation point is zero, and every nonzero eigenspace is finite-dimensional. Zero need not be an eigenvalue. The argument uses invariant spans, not an orthogonal eigenbasis, which is unavailable for a general non-self-adjoint compact operator.

Compactness gives a stronger statement than the one requested. Since $T(B_H)$ has compact closure, finitely many open balls of radius $\delta$ cover it. Choose their centres from $T(B_H)$ and let $E$ be their finite-dimensional linear span. ThenFor the orthogonal projection $P_E$, best approximation in a Hilbert space givesIn particular this holds for every vector $e_n$ in the given orthonormal basis.

The operator $P_{E}T$ has image in $E$ and hence has finite rank, whileThus every compact operator is an operator norm limit of finite-rank operators. This is the finite-rank approximation theorem for compact operators on a Hilbert space.