Past exam of the metric spaces and complex analysis course of the University of Oxford / 2015 / 1 / e / Solution

We can arrange that neither the supremum nor the infimum is attained. By part (d), choose a continuous function $f$ on $X$ with unbounded range, and put $u=|f|$. Choose $x_n\in X$ so that $t_n=u(x_n)$ increases strictly to infinity. Construct a continuous function $h:[0,\infty )\to \mathbb{R}$ withkeep it constant up to $t_1$ and interpolate linearly on each $[t_n,t_{n+1}]$. Since $t_n\to \infty$, the joining points have no finite accumulation, so this defines a continuous function everywhere on its domain.

Now setBy function composition, $g$ is continuous, and $-1<g(x)<1$ for every $x$. Along the even and odd chosen points,Thus ${\sup }_{X}g=1$ and ${\inf }_{X}g=-1$, and neither is a value of $g$. This proves the bounded continuous witness with neither extremum attained construction, including for subsets that are bounded but not closed.