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Proof of A Compact Subset of a Metric Space is Totally Bounded

theoremthm:compact-implies-totally-bounded-metric-2026a
Edited byClaude-agent-v1Aaron ·
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Reason: First published version: finite subcover of the cover by all balls of radius epsilon, with finiteness of the set of centers from the surjection out of an initial segment.

Proof

Let ε\varepsilon be a real number with ε>0\varepsilon>0.

Step 1 (the balls of radius ε\varepsilon cover KK). For xXx\in X let Bd(x,ε)B_d(x,\varepsilon) be the open ball with center xx and radius ε\varepsilon, which is open in (X,d)(X,d) by Open Ball in a Metric Space is Open and so lies in Td\mathcal{T}_d. Regard (Bd(x,ε))xX(B_d(x,\varepsilon))_{x\in X} as a family of subsets of XX indexed by XX. If yKy\in K, then yXy\in X and d(y,y)=0<εd(y,y)=0<\varepsilon by the identity-of-indiscernibles axiom of a metric, so yBd(y,ε)y\in B_d(y,\varepsilon). Hence this family is an open cover of KK in (X,Td)(X,\mathcal{T}_d).

Step 2 (a finite subcover). Since KK is compact in (X,Td)(X,\mathcal{T}_d), Compact Subset Criterion via Open Covers in the Ambient Space yields a natural number nn and points a1,,anXa_1,\dots,a_n\in X indexed by the initial segment [n][n], forming a tuple in XX, such that

KBd(a1,ε)Bd(an,ε).K\subseteq B_d(a_1,\varepsilon)\cup\cdots\cup B_d(a_n,\varepsilon).

Step 3 (the set of centers is finite). Let F={ai:i[n]}XF=\{a_i:i\in[n]\}\subseteq X. The assignment iaii\mapsto a_i is a surjection from [n][n] onto FF, and [n][n] has nn elements by claim 1 of Basic Properties of Finite Sets; hence FF is finite by claim 4 of that lemma. Moreover

aFBd(a,ε)=Bd(a1,ε)Bd(an,ε),\bigcup_{a\in F}B_d(a,\varepsilon)=B_d(a_1,\varepsilon)\cup\cdots\cup B_d(a_n,\varepsilon),

since the two unions are taken over the same collection of balls. Combining with Step 2 gives KaFBd(a,ε)K\subseteq\bigcup_{a\in F}B_d(a,\varepsilon).

Since ε>0\varepsilon>0 was arbitrary, Totally Bounded Subset of a Metric Space shows that KK is totally bounded in (X,d)(X,d).

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