[Math] Convergent sequences in a metric space

cauchy-sequencesconvergence-divergencemetric-spacesreal-analysis

Consider the set N of natural numbers with the metric
$$d(m,n) = \left\lvert{\frac{1}{m}−\frac{1}{n}}\right\rvert \; \mathit{n, m ∈ \mathbb{N}} $$

  • Describe all convergent sequences in this metric space and prove that the sequence $[{x_{n}]}^{∞}_{n=1}$ defined by $x_{n} = n$ is a Cauchy
    sequence in this metric space.

So I can prove that its a cauchy sequence, im just not sure on what the convergent sequences are.

Best Answer

First of all notice that (according to your example) this metric space is not complete. So there are non-convergent Cauchy sequences. If $x_{n_k}\to\infty,$ then it is not convergent in $\Bbb{N}$
(It may convergent in $\Bbb{N}\cup\{\infty\}$). So Any convergent sequence $(x_n)$ must be bounded.

Let $N\in\Bbb{N}$ be fixed. Then for any sequence $(x_n)$converge to $N,$ we have $$d(x_n,N)=\left\lvert{\frac{1}{x_n}−\frac{1}{N}}\right\rvert\lt\epsilon$$ for sufficiently large $n\in\Bbb{N},$ where $\epsilon\gt 0$ is arbitrary.
In other words $$x_n\gt\dfrac{N}{\epsilon N+1}.$$ By letting $\epsilon\to 0$ we can conclude that $x_n\ge N$ for large $n.$
Again choosing $\epsilon =\dfrac{1}{N(N+1)}$ one can prove that $x_n\lt N+1$ for large $n$ values.

Hence any convergent sequence must be ultimately constant.

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