Compact Sets in a Metric Space
Recall from the Coverings of a Set in a Metric Space page that 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:
(1)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:
(2)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 $S$ is not compact, we need to find an open covering $\mathcal F$ of $S$ that does not have a finite subcovering. Consider the following open covering:
(3)Clearly $\mathcal F$ is an infinite subcovering of $(0, 1)$ and furthermore:
(4)Let $\mathcal F^*$ be a finite subset of $\mathcal F$ containing $p$ elements. Then:
(5)Let $n^* = \max \{ n_1, n_2, ..., n_p \}$. Then due to the nesting of the open covering $\mathcal F$, we see that:
(6)But for $(0, 1) \subseteq \left ( 0, 1 - \frac{1}{n^*} \right )$ we need $1 \leq 1 - \frac{1}{n^*}$. But $n^* \in \mathbb{N}$, so $n^* > 0$ and $\frac{1}{n^*} > 0$, so $1 - \frac{1}{n^*} < 1$. Therefore any finite subset $\mathcal F^*$ of $\mathcal F$ cannot cover $S = (0, 1)$. Hence, $(0, 1)$ is not compact.