Source: Principles of Mathematical Analysis

Given some set , a function is a metric if it satisfies the following properties.

  1. if ; .
  2. , for any .

With this presentation, is a metric space

Definitions

Let be a metric space and . Then we have the following definitions

  • An -neighborhood of is
  • A point is a limit point if every neighborhood of contains a point such that .
  • If a point is not a limit point, then it is an isolated point
  • is closed if every limit point of is a point of
  • A point is an interior point of if there is a neighborhood of such that .
  • The complement of is
  • is perfect if is closed and if every point of is a limit point of
  • is bounded if there is a real number and point such that for all
  • is dense in if every point is a limit point of , or a point of .

Complete Spaces

A subset of a metric space is complete if every Cauchy sequence in converges and its limit is in .

Compact Sets

An open cover of a set in a metric space is a collection of open subsets of such that . A subset of is compact if every open cover of contains a finite subcover.

Let be a metric space. is totally bounded if for every , the set can be covered by finitely many balls of radius . That is, there are such that .

Characterizations of Compactness

Info

If is a subset of a metric space , the following are equivalent

  1. is complete and totally bounded
  2. Every sequence in has a convergent subsequence.
  3. Every open cover of has a finite subcover.

. Let . Since is totally bounded, it can be covered in finitely many balls of radius . Let be one of these balls that contain infinitely many points of . Recursively, note can be covered with finitely balls of radius . Pick to be one of these balls such that has infinitely points of . Pick such that , so this sequence is Cauchy and converges (by completeness).

. If is not complete, then there is some Cauchy sequence which does not converge in , violating (2). If is not totally bounded, then there is some where cannot be covered in finitely many -balls. Pick , and . Clearly for , thus no subsequence can converge. By contraposition we have proved the claim.

. Let be an open cover of . It suffices to show that there exists where every -ball intersecting is contained in some . Suppose this is not true. Then for every , there is a ball where and not contained in any . Pick , which has a subsequence converging to . There is some where for some . For large enough , and . Fixing , for any , . Thus , giving a contradiction.

. If has no convergent subsequence, then for every , there is a neighborhood of containing finitely many points. These form an infinite cover of , which clearly has no finite subcover.

Connected Sets

Two subsets and of a metric space are separated if and are empty. A set is connected if is not a union of two nonempty separated sets.