[Math] Existence of an unbounded sequence

real-analysissequences-and-series

I want to know why a sequence that is not bounded cannot have all of its subsequences converge to the same limit. According to Lebl, a bounded sequence is convergent and converges to x if and only if every convergent subsequence converges to x. I know that convergent subsequences must be bounded… But I'm having a hard time relating subsequences to their corresponding sequences in a way that implies something meaningful about the sequences. Can anyone give me hints?

Best Answer

Here is an outline of a proof for you to fill out:

Theorem: Let $(x_n)$ be a sequence of real numbers. Let $x$ be a real number. Then $(x_n)$ converges to $x$ if and only if both of the following hold:

  1. $(x_n)$ is bounded. That is there are $a,b \in \Bbb R$ such that for all $n\in \Bbb N$, $a\le x_n \le b$.
  2. Every convergent subsequence of $(x_n)$ converges to $x$. That is, for each increasing sequence of integers $n_k$, if $(x_{n_k})$ converges, then $(x_{n_k})$ converges to $x$.

Lemma 1: If $(x_n)$ is a convergent sequence of real numbers, then $(x_n)$ is bounded.

Proof: Suppose $(x_n)$ converges to $x$. Then for any $\epsilon>0$ there is an $N>0$ such that …. In particular, letting $\epsilon = 1$ ….

Lemma 2: If $(x_n)$ is a sequence of real numbers converging to $x$, and $(x_{n_k})$ is any subsequence thereof, then $(x_{n_k})$ converges to $x$.

Lemma 3: If $(x_n)$ is a bounded sequence of real numbers, then $(x_n)$ has a convergent subsequence.

Lemma 4: If $(x_n)$ is a bounded sequence of real numbers that does not converge to $x$ then it must have a subsequence that converges in $(x,\to)$ or in $(\gets,x)$.