Alphabeta Math
ExampleConstruction: AI-adaptedVerification: AI-generatedSession-authored (Fable 5 assisted)precheck passjudge pass (z-ai/glm-5.2)audited 2026-07-27
How statement and proof provenance work

The first chip identifies the source of the statement or construction; the second identifies the source of its local proof or verification.

  • Literature-sourced — the exact statement appears in a cited source; only wording and notation differ.
  • AI-adapted — a semantically identical restatement of literature-sourced material, modulo indexing, notation, and boundary cases adopted by the library.
  • AI-generated — a genuinely novel statement formulated by AI, with no source for the claim itself.

These labels describe origin, not correctness: citations and verification chips remain separate evidence.

With the discrete metric d(x,y)=1d(x,y) = 1 for xyx \ne y, a space is compact iff it is totally bounded iff it is finite, and it is complete whatever its size

Example

Let SS be a set and define d:S×SRd : S \times S \to \mathbb{R} by d(x,y)=0d(x,y) = 0 when x=yx = y and d(x,y)=1d(x,y) = 1 when xyx \ne y: the discrete metric on SS. Then:

  1. dd is a metric (Metric space: d(x,y)=0d(x,y) = 0 iff x=yx = y, symmetry, and the triangle inequality; pseudometric and ultrametric), B(x,r)={x}B(x,r) = \{x\} for 0<r10 < r \le 1 and B(x,r)=SB(x,r) = S for r>1r > 1 (Open ball, closed ball and sphere in a metric space), and every subset of SS is both open and closed (The metric topology: a set is open when every one of its points has a ball around it inside the set; closed means open complement).
  2. (S,d)(S,d) is complete (Complete metric space: every Cauchy sequence converges in the space), whatever SS is: a Cauchy sequence in it is eventually constant.
  3. The following are equivalent: (S,d)(S,d) is compact (Open cover, subcover, compact metric space, and compact subset of a metric space); (S,d)(S,d) is totally bounded (Finite ε\varepsilon-net and totally bounded metric space); SS is finite (Finite, countably infinite, countable, uncountable).

So the discrete metric separates the two halves of "complete and totally bounded": it is always complete, and it is totally bounded only in the trivial case.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: A set SS and the discrete metric dd on it, with d(x,y)=0d(x,y) = 0 for x=yx = y and d(x,y)=1d(x,y) = 1 otherwise.

[L1]

A metric satisfies (M1) d(x,y)=0d(x,y) = 0 exactly when x=yx = y, (M2) symmetry, (M3) the triangle inequality (Metric space: d(x,y)=0d(x,y) = 0 iff x=yx = y, symmetry, and the triangle inequality; pseudometric and ultrametric).

[L2]

B(x,r)={y:d(x,y)<r}B(x,r) = \{y : d(x,y) < r\}; a set is open when every point of it has a ball around it inside it, and closed when its complement is open (Open ball, closed ball and sphere in a metric space, The metric topology: a set is open when every one of its points has a ball around it inside the set; closed means open complement).

[L3]

(xk)(x_k) is Cauchy when for every rational ε>0\varepsilon > 0 there is KK with d(xm,xn)<εd(x_m,x_n) < \varepsilon for m,nKm,n \ge K; it converges to pp when for every rational ε>0\varepsilon > 0 there is KK with d(xk,p)<εd(x_k,p) < \varepsilon for kKk \ge K; the space is complete when every Cauchy sequence converges in it (Cauchy sequence in a metric space, Convergence of a sequence in a metric space: xkxx_k \to x iff d(xk,x)0d(x_k, x) \to 0 in R\mathbb{R}, Complete metric space: every Cauchy sequence converges in the space).

[L4]

(S,d)(S,d) is compact when every family of open subsets with union SS has a finite subfamily with union SS; a finite set is empty or listable as {s0,,sp}\{s_0, \dots, s_p\} (Open cover, subcover, compact metric space, and compact subset of a metric space, Finite, countably infinite, countable, uncountable).

[L5]

A finite ε\varepsilon-net is a finite FSF \subseteq S with S=yFB(y,ε)S = \bigcup_{y \in F} B(y,\varepsilon), and total boundedness asks for one at every real ε>0\varepsilon > 0 (Finite ε\varepsilon-net and totally bounded metric space).

[L7]

A function with domain a natural number all of whose values are nonempty sets has a choice function, in ZF (Every natural-number-indexed list of nonempty sets has a choice function on its family of values).

Verification

technique · direct
1.1

dd is a metric: (M1) holds by definition; (M2) because the condition xyx \ne y is symmetric; and (M3) because d(x,z)d(x,z) is 00 or 11, and when it is 11 one has xzx \ne z, so yy differs from at least one of xx and zz and d(x,y)+d(y,z)1d(x,y) + d(y,z) \ge 1.

L1
2.1

For 0<r10 < r \le 1, d(x,y)<r1d(x,y) < r \le 1 forces d(x,y)=0d(x,y) = 0 and y=xy = x, so B(x,r)={x}B(x,r) = \{x\}; for r>1r > 1 every yy has d(x,y)1<rd(x,y) \le 1 < r, so B(x,r)=SB(x,r) = S. Hence every ASA \subseteq S is open, each xAx \in A having B(x,1)={x}AB(x,1) = \{x\} \subseteq A, and every subset is closed as well, its complement being open: claim 1.

L2step 1.1
2.2

Claim 2: let (xk)(x_k) be Cauchy and take KK with d(xm,xn)<1d(x_m,x_n) < 1 for m,nKm,n \ge K; then d(xm,xK)=0d(x_m,x_K) = 0, that is xm=xKx_m = x_K, for every mKm \ge K, so d(xk,xK)=0<εd(x_k, x_K) = 0 < \varepsilon for kKk \ge K and every rational ε>0\varepsilon > 0, and xkxKSx_k \to x_K \in S.

L1L3step 1.1
3.1

For claim 3, suppose SS is finite. If S=S = \emptyset then the empty subfamily of any family covers it; otherwise list S={s0,,sp}S = \{s_0, \dots, s_p\}, let U\mathcal{U} be a family of open sets with union SS, and note that for each ipi \le p the set {UU:siU}\{U \in \mathcal{U} : s_i \in U\} is nonempty, so finite choice supplies U0,,UpUU_0, \dots, U_p \in \mathcal{U} with siUis_i \in U_i; their union contains every sis_i and hence is SS. So (S,d)(S,d) is compact.

L4L7step 2.2
4.1

If (S,d)(S,d) is compact it is totally bounded.

L6step 3.1
5.1

If (S,d)(S,d) is totally bounded, take a finite (1/2)(1/2)-net FF; then S=yFB(y,1/2)=yF{y}=FS = \bigcup_{y \in F} B(y,1/2) = \bigcup_{y \in F} \{y\} = F by step 2.1, so SS is finite.

L5step 2.1step 4.1
6.1

Steps 3.1, 4.1 and 5.1 close the cycle finite \Rightarrow compact \Rightarrow totally bounded \Rightarrow finite, so the three conditions of claim 3 are equivalent.

step 3.1step 4.1step 5.1

Remarks

This is the standard witness for two of the false statements of the A page. Taking S=NS = \mathbb{N} gives a bounded space that is not totally bounded (FALSE: a bounded metric space is totally bounded, N\mathbb{N} with the discrete metric is bounded and is not totally bounded) and a closed bounded subset of a metric space that is not compact (FALSE: a closed and bounded subset of a metric space is compact).

Completeness is not what compactness adds. Claim 2 holds for every SS, including infinite ones, so completeness alone is very far from compactness. What the discrete metric lacks is total boundedness, and by For a metric space, compact, countably compact, limit point compact, sequentially compact, and complete together with totally bounded are all equivalent, given countable choice and dependent choice it is exactly the pair of conditions that is equivalent to compactness.

Boundedness of the space is unconditional too. Every discrete space is contained in B(x,2)B(x,2) for any of its points, so, for infinite SS, it is bounded, complete, and not compact all at once (Bounded subset, diameter, distance from a point to a set, and distance between two sets in a metric space).

Depends on

Used by

Dependency tree · next 3 levels

Direct dependencies and their dependencies through the next three levels: 95 results over 19 levels. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, and this result sits at the bottom with a heavier outline. Click the chart to enlarge it.

Sources