A general duality result for precompact sets

In this paper we present an elementary proof of a general duality result for precompact sets which can be considered as a far-reaching generalization of a well-known result of Grothendieck on precompactness in dual systems. It is then shown that a number of known results can be deduced from it, amongst others a general form of the Arzela-Ascoli theorem and Grothendieck's duality theorem itself.