Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / ib / Paper 2 / 4G / b

First recall from the least-upper-bound property that every real interval is connected. For completeness, if $[a,b]=U\cup V$ were a separation with $a\in U$, let $s$ be the supremum of the points $t$ for which $[a,t]$ remains in $U$. Relative openness rules out both $s\in U$ and $s\in V$: in the first case one can move slightly to the right while staying in $U$, and in the second one finds points of $V$ slightly to the left of $s$, contrary to the definition of $s$. Thus no separation exists.

Part (a) now makes $g([0,1])$ a connected subset of the real line. Such a set is an interval: if it contained $u<v$ but omitted $y\in (u,v)$, its intersections with $(-\infty ,y)$ and $(y,\infty )$ would separate it. Since $g([0,1])$ contains $g(0)$ and $g(1)$, it consequently contains every number between them. Therefore for each such $y$ there is an $x\in [0,1]$ with $\boxed{g(x)=y}$. This derives the intermediate value theorem from connectedness.