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Cauchy Sequences in Metric Spaces

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Cauchy Sequences in Metric Spaces

Cauchy Sequences in Metric Spaces

Just like with Cauchy sequences of real numbers - we can also describe Cauchy sequences of elements from a metric space (M, d).
∞
Definition: Let (M, d) be a metric space. A sequence (x n ) n=1 is said to be a Cauchy Sequence if for all ϵ > 0 there exists an N ∈ ℕ such that if
m, n ≥ N then d(x m , x n ) < ϵ .
Our first result on Cauchy sequences tells us that all convergent sequences in a metric space are Cauchy sequences.
∞
Theorem: Let (M, d) be a metric space and let (x n ) n=1 be a convergent sequence such that lim n→∞ x n = p. Then (x n ) ∞
n=1 is also a Cauchy
sequence.
∞ ϵ
Proof: Let (x n ) n=1 be a convergent sequence such that lim n→∞ x n = p and let ϵ > 0 be given. Then for ϵ 1 = 2 there exists an N ∈ ℕ such
that if n ≥ N then:

ϵ
d(x n , p) < ϵ 1 = (1)
2

By applying the triangle inequality, we have that for all m, n ≥ N we have that:

ϵ ϵ
d(x m , x n ) ≤ d(x m , p) + d(x n , p) ≤ ϵ 1 + ϵ 1 = + =ϵ (2)
2 2

∞
Hence (x n ) n=1 is a Cauchy sequence.

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