Compactness in Metric Spaces

Compact Sets in a Metric Space

If $(M,d)$ is a metric space and $S\subseteq M$ then a cover or covering of $S$ is a collection of subsets ${\mathcal {F}}$ in $M$ such that:

${\begin{aligned}\quad S\subseteq \bigcup _{A\in {\mathcal {F}}}A\end{aligned}}$

Furthermore, we said that an open cover (or open covering) is simply a cover that contains only open sets.

We also said that a subset ${\mathcal {S}}\subseteq {\mathcal {F}}$ is a subcover/subcovering (or open subcover/subcovering if ${\mathcal {F}}$ is an open covering) if ${\mathcal {S}}$ is also a cover of $S$, that is:

${\begin{aligned}\quad S\subseteq \bigcup _{A\in {\mathcal {S}}}A\quad {\text{ where }}{\mathcal {S}}\subseteq {\mathcal {F}}\end{aligned}}$

We can now define the concept of a compact set using the definitions above.

Definition: Let $(M,d)$ be a metric space. The subset $S\subseteq M$ is said to be Compact if every open covering ${\mathcal {F}}$ of $S$ has a finite subcovering of $S$.

In general, it may be more difficult to show that a subset of a metric space is compact than to show a subset of a metric space is not compact. So, let's look at an example of a subset of a metric space that is not compact.

Consider the metric space $(\mathbb {R} ,d)$ where $d$ is the Euclidean metric and consider the set $S=[0,1)\subseteq \mathbb {R}$. We claim that this set is not compact. To show that Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle S} is not compact, we need to find an open covering Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \mathcal F} of Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle S} that does not have a finite subcovering. Consider the following open covering:

Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \begin{align} \quad \mathcal F = \left \{ \left( (0, 1 - \frac{1}{n} \right ) : n \in \mathbb{Z}, n \geq 1 \right \} = \left \{ \left ( 0, \frac{1}{2}, \right ), \left ( 0, \frac{2}{3} \right ) , \left ( 0, \frac{3}{4} \right ) , ... \right \} \end{align}}

Clearly Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \mathcal F} is an infinite subcovering of Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle (0, 1)} and furthermore:

Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \begin{align} \quad (0, 1) \subseteq \bigcup_{k=2}^{\infty} \left ( 0, 1 - \frac{1}{k} \right ) \end{align}}

Let Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \mathcal F^*} be a finite subset of Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \mathcal F} containing Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle p} elements. Then:

Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \begin{align} \quad \mathcal F^* = \left \{ \left (0, 1 - \frac{1}{n_1}\right ), \left (0, 1 - \frac{1}{n_2}\right ), ..., \left (0, 1 - \frac{1}{n_p}\right ) \right \} \end{align}}

Let Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle n^* = \max \{ n_1, n_2, ..., n_p \}} . Then due to the nesting of the open covering Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \mathcal F} , we see that:

Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \begin{align} \quad \bigcup_{k=1}^{p} \left ( 0, 1 - \frac{1}{n_p} \right ) = \left ( 0, 1 - \frac{1}{n^*} \right ) \end{align}}

But for Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle (0, 1) \subseteq \left ( 0, 1 - \frac{1}{n^*} \right )} we need Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle 1 \leq 1 - \frac{1}{n^*}} . But Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle n^* \in \mathbb{N}} , so Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle n^* > 0} and Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \frac{1}{n^*} > 0} , so Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle 1 - \frac{1}{n^*} < 1} . Therefore any finite subset Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \mathcal F^*} of Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \mathcal F} cannot cover Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle S = (0, 1)} . Hence, Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle (0, 1)} is not compact.

Licensing

Content obtained and/or adapted from:

• Compact Sets in a Metric Space under a CC BY-SA license