Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2016 / ib / Paper 2 / 4E (Metric and Topological Spaces)

Let $K$ be a compact set of a Hausdorff space $X$. For any $x\notin K$ and each $y\in K$, the Hausdorff property gives disjoint open sets $U_y\ni y$ and $V_y\ni x$. The sets $U_y$ cover $K$; compactness supplies a finite subcover $U_{y_1},\dots ,U_{y_r}$. The open set $V={\bigcap }_i{V}_{y_i}$ contains $x$ and misses every $U_{y_i}$, hence misses $K$. Thus $X\setminus K$ is open, and every compact subset of a Hausdorff space is closed. The empty-set case is immediate.

Since $\mathbb{R}$ with its usual topology is Hausdorff, its compact sets are closed. The open cover $\{(-n,n):n\ge 1\}$ of $\mathbb{R}$ has a finite subcover of any compact set $K$. Taking the largest index in that subcover gives $K\subset (-N,N)$, so $K$ is a bounded set. This proves the required direction of the Heine-Borel theorem without assuming its converse.

Take $X$ to be the set $\mathbb{Q}$, equipped with the discrete metricEvery Cauchy sequence is eventually constant: its terms must eventually have mutual distance in this metric less than $1/2$. Consequently $X$ is a complete metric space. Its topology is the discrete topology, since every singleton is a ball of radius $1/2$ and every subset is a union of such balls.

For the codomain use the usual subspace topology on $\mathbb{Q}$. The inverse image of any open set there is a subset of the discrete $X$, hence is open. Therefore $f$ is continuous and plainly surjective. A continuous image of a complete metric space need not be complete. The two occurrences of $\mathbb{Q}$ have different domain and codomain metrics.