Ivan Shishkin, Rye (1878)

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Sequences whose terms are getting closer and closer

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Solution

Solution by Ancient Tree · EN

  1. Let l∈Rl\in \R be an element outside Vu\mathcal{V}_{u}, that is, there exist ε>0\varepsilon >0 and N∈NN\in \N such that, for every n≥Nn\geq N, we have ∣un−l∣>ε|u_{n}-l|>\varepsilon. In other words, there exists an interval of radius ε\varepsilon around ll into which no term of the sequence enters after some rank. But then, if we take for instance the interval of radius ε/2\varepsilon/2 around ll, this interval is entirely contained in the complement of Vu\mathcal{V}_{u}. Indeed, if mm belongs to this interval, then by the reverse triangle inequality, for n≥Nn\geq N, we have:
    ∣m−un∣⩾∣ℓ−un∣−∣ℓ−m∣⩾ε2\left|m-u_n\right| \geqslant\left|\ell-u_n\right|-|\ell-m| \geqslant \frac{\varepsilon}{2}which shows that mm cannot belong to Vu\mathcal{V}_{u}.

This shows that the complement of Vu\mathcal{V}_{u} is open in R\R, and therefore Vu\mathcal{V}_{u} is closed.

  1. Let aa and bb belong to Vu\mathcal{V}_{u}, and without loss of generality assume that a≤ba\leq b. Let c∈[a,b]c\in [a,b]. We need to show that cc belongs to Vu\mathcal{V}_{u}. Let therefore ε>0\varepsilon >0 and N∈NN\in \N. By assumption, there also exists M∈NM\in \N such that, for every n≥Mn\geq M, the sequence moves in small successive steps:
    ∣un+1−un∣≤ε.|u_{n+1}-u_{n}|\leq \varepsilon.

Without loss of generality, assume that N≥MN\geq M (otherwise, redefine M=NM=N). Since aa is a subsequential limit, there exists n≥Nn\geq N such that
∣un−a∣≤ε.|u_{n}-a|\leq \varepsilon.Likewise, since bb is a subsequential limit, there exists m≥nm\geq n (!) such that ∣um−b∣≤ε|u_{m}-b|\leq \varepsilon.

  • If a<c<una<c<u_{n}, then we are done, since ∣un−c∣<∣un−a∣⩽ε\left|u_n-c\right|<\left|u_n-a\right| \leqslant \varepsilon.
  • If um<c<bu_{m}<c <b, then we are done, since ∣um−c∣⩽∣um−b∣⩽ε\left|u_m-c\right| \leqslant\left|u_m-b\right| \leqslant \varepsilon.
  • Otherwise, we have a<un<c<um<ba<u_{n}<c<u_{m}<b.
    But then, between the indices nn and mm, since the sequence moves in small successive steps of size at most ε\varepsilon and eventually exceeds cc, there must necessarily exist an intermediate index n0n_{0} between nn and mm such that ∣un0−c∣≤ε|u_{n_{0}}-c|\leq\varepsilon. This is exactly what we wanted to prove!

For the second part of the question, consider the following sequence, given by the partial sums of the harmonic series:
un=∑k=1n1k.u_{n}=\sum_{k=1}^{n}\frac{1}{k}.This is a classical example of a sequence for which the difference between successive terms tends to 00, but which nevertheless diverges. Since the sequence is increasing and diverges, it has no cluster point. Therefore Vu\mathcal{V}_{u} is empty in this case.

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