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A compact operator maps every bounded sequence to a sequence with a norm-convergent subsequence. A Hilbertian basis is a complete orthonormal sequence.

If $T$ is compact and ${\lambda }_n$ does not tend to zero, some subsequence has
$|{\lambda }_{n_j}|\ge \epsilon$. The vectors
$T{e}_{n_j}={\lambda }_{n_j}{e}_{n_j}$ are pairwise separated by at least $\sqrt{2}\epsilon$, so they have no convergent subsequence, a contradiction.

Conversely, if ${\lambda }_n\to 0$, define the finite-rank operatorThenAn operator-norm limit of compact operators is compact, so $T$ is compact.

If $A$ has finite rank, the image of its unit ball is bounded in the finite-dimensional space $\mathrm{ran}A$. The closure of a bounded set in a finite-dimensional normed space is compact. Hence every bounded finite-rank operator is a compact operator.

Let $Q_n=P_n^{\ast }{P}_n$ be the orthogonal projection ontoThen $Q_n\to I$ strongly. Strong convergence is uniform on every compact subset: if $K$ is compact, cover it by finitely many small balls and use $\Vert I-Q_n\Vert \le 1$ at their centers. Since the closure of $A$ applied to the unit ball is compact,The adjoint of a compact operator is compact, so the same argument for $A^{\ast }$ givesSince $A_n=Q_{n}A{Q}_n$,ThereforeThis is the finite-section approximation of a compact operator.

The dual of the trace-class operators, and also of the normed space of finite-rank operators with the trace norm, is isometrically the space of bounded operators. The pairing is $F_B(T)=\mathrm{Tr}(BT)$. For $R_{x,y}z=⟨z,y⟩x$, one has $\Vert R_{x,y}{\Vert }_1=\Vert x\Vert \Vert y\Vert$ and $F_B(R_{x,y})=⟨Bx,y⟩$, using an inner product linear in its first argument. A bounded functional on these rank-one operators gives a bounded sesquilinear form and hence a unique $B$ by the Riesz representation theorem. The singular value decomposition proves $\Vert F_B\Vert =\Vert B\Vert$ and the triangle inequality for the trace norm.