Past exam of the metric spaces and complex analysis course of the University of Oxford / 2015 / 2 / b / Solution

Suppose a path-connected space had a separation $X=U\cup V$. Choose $u\in U$, $v\in V$, and a path $\gamma$ from $u$ to $v$. The inverse images ${\gamma }^{-1}(U)$ and ${\gamma }^{-1}(V)$ are disjoint open sets in the subspace topology of $[0,1]$, cover it, and are nonempty because they contain its opposite endpoints. This contradicts the connectedness of an interval.

Therefore every path-connected space is connected. Notice that it is the subspace topology on $[0,1]$ that is used in the inverse-image argument.