Explain what it means for a metric space to be complete.
Let X be a metric space. We say the subsets Ai of X, with i∈N, form a descending sequence in X if A1⊃A2⊃A3⊃⋯.
Prove that the metric space X is complete if and only if any descending sequence A1⊃A2⊃⋯ of non-empty closed subsets of X, such that the diameters of the subsets Ai converge to zero, has an intersection ⋂i=1∞Ai that is non-empty.
[Recall that the diameter diam(S) of a set S is the supremum of the set {d(x,y) : x,y∈S}.]
Give examples of
(i) a metric space X, and a descending sequence A1⊃A2⊃⋯ of non-empty closed subsets of X, with diam(Ai) converging to 0 but ⋂i=1∞Ai=∅.
(ii) a descending sequence A1⊃A2⊃⋯ of non-empty sets in R with diam(Ai) converging to 0 but ⋂i=1∞Ai=∅.
(iii) a descending sequence A1⊃A2⊃⋯ of non-empty closed sets in R with ⋂i=1∞Ai=∅.