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False statementConstruction: AI-adaptedVerification: AI-generatedSession-authored (Fable 5 assisted)precheck passjudge pass (z-ai/glm-5.2)audited 2026-07-26
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FALSE: in every ordered field a closed bounded set is compact, so Heine-Borel needs no completeness

Statement

False claim: in every ordered field FF (Ordered field), a subset of FF that is closed in FF and bounded is compact in FF; consequently the completeness hypothesis in A subset of R\mathbb{R} is compact if and only if it is closed and bounded is unnecessary.

How the claim must be read. It speaks of an arbitrary ordered field, so the whole vocabulary has to be available there, and it is: for xFx \in F and εF\varepsilon \in F with ε>0\varepsilon > 0 put NεF(x):={yF:yx<ε}N^{F}_\varepsilon(x) := \{\, y \in F : |y - x| < \varepsilon \,\}, using the absolute value of Absolute value in an ordered field, which is defined in every ordered field; call UFU \subseteq F open in FF when every xUx \in U admits ε>0\varepsilon > 0 in FF with NεF(x)UN^{F}_\varepsilon(x) \subseteq U, call CFC \subseteq F closed in FF when FCF \setminus C is open in FF, call SFS \subseteq F bounded when some ,uF\ell, u \in F satisfy su\ell \le s \le u for all sSs \in S, and call SS compact in FF when every family of sets open in FF whose union contains SS has a finite subfamily whose union already contains SS. These are the definitions of The ε\varepsilon-neighbourhood and the punctured ε\varepsilon-neighbourhood of a point of R\mathbb{R}, Open subset of R\mathbb{R} (every point has a neighbourhood inside it), closed subset (complement open), and clopen, Lower bound, bounded below, bounded set and Open cover, subcover, compact subset of R\mathbb{R} (every open cover has a finite subcover), and sequentially compact subset transposed word for word from R\mathbb{R} to FF; with F=RF = \mathbb{R} they are literally those definitions.

The refutation takes F=QF = \mathbb{Q} (The rationals as equivalence classes of pairs of integers, The rationals form a totally ordered field) and the set of nonnegative rationals whose square is below 22.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: The ordered field Q\mathbb{Q} and the set S:={qQ:q0 and q2<2}S := \{\, q \in \mathbb{Q} : q \ge 0 \text{ and } q^2 < 2 \,\}, together with the notions "open in Q\mathbb{Q}", "closed in Q\mathbb{Q}", "bounded" and "compact in Q\mathbb{Q}" as set out in the Statement. Here 2:=1+12 := 1 + 1 and 4:=224 := 2 \cdot 2 in Q\mathbb{Q}.

[A1]

The false claim: in every ordered field, a closed bounded subset is compact.

[L1]

Q\mathbb{Q} is a field and the relation of its order makes it a totally ordered field: the order is total and transitive, adding a constant preserves it, and a product of positives is positive (The rationals form a totally ordered field, The rationals form a field, The rationals as equivalence classes of pairs of integers, Ordered field).

[L2]

Absolute value in an ordered field: z0|z| \ge 0; z=z|z| = z for z0z \ge 0 and z=z|z| = -z for z<0z < 0; and for c>0c > 0 one has z<c|z| < c exactly when c<z<c-c < z < c (Absolute value in an ordered field, Basic properties of the absolute value).

[L3]

No rational number squares to 22 (FALSE: some rational number squares to 2).

[L4]

In an ordered field, squaring is strictly monotone on the nonnegatives: 0a<b0 \le a < b implies a2<b2a^2 < b^2, and 0ab0 \le a \le b implies a2b2a^2 \le b^2 (Squaring is monotone on the nonnegatives).

[L5]

Ordered-field arithmetic: 0<10 < 1, hence 0<2<40 < 2 < 4 and 202 \ne 0; a positive element has a positive inverse; adding a constant and multiplying by a positive preserve an inequality (The multiplicative identity is positive, Order is preserved by adding a constant and by adding inequalities, Sign rules for products and monotonicity of multiplication, Inverses of positives are positive, and reciprocation reverses order, Ordered field). These order-arithmetic facts are stated by their sources for the strict order only; the nonstrict forms used below follow by adjoining the equality case, in which the two sides coincide.

Refutation

technique · direct
1.1

SS is nonempty and bounded: 1S1 \in S because 101 \ge 0 and 12=1<21^2 = 1 < 2 by [L5]; and every qSq \in S satisfies 0q<20 \le q < 2, since q20q \ge 2 \ge 0 would give q222=4>2q^2 \ge 2^2 = 4 > 2 by [L4] and [L5], contradicting q2<2q^2 < 2.

L1L4L5
1.2

SS has no greatest element: let qSq \in S and put h:=min{1, (2q2)(2q+2)1}h := \min\{\, 1,\ (2 - q^2)(2q+2)^{-1} \,\}, a definition by cases on the total order of Q\mathbb{Q}; here 2q+2>02q + 2 > 0 because q0q \ge 0, and 2q2>02 - q^2 > 0, so both entries are positive and h>0h > 0 with h1h \le 1. Put r:=q+hr := q + h, so r>q0r > q \ge 0. Then h2hh^2 \le h because 0<h10 < h \le 1, and h(2q+1)(2q2)(2q+1)(2q+2)1<2q2h(2q+1) \le (2-q^2)(2q+1)(2q+2)^{-1} < 2 - q^2 because (2q+1)(2q+2)1<1(2q+1)(2q+2)^{-1} < 1 and 2q2>02 - q^2 > 0; hence r2=q2+2qh+h2q2+h(2q+1)<q2+(2q2)=2r^2 = q^2 + 2qh + h^2 \le q^2 + h(2q+1) < q^2 + (2 - q^2) = 2, so rSr \in S and q<rq < r.

L1L4L5
1.3

SS is closed in Q\mathbb{Q}: let qQSq \in \mathbb{Q} \setminus S, so q<0q < 0, or q0q \ge 0 and q22q^2 \ge 2, in which case q22q^2 \ne 2 by [L3] gives q2>2q^2 > 2. If q<0q < 0, put ε:=q>0\varepsilon := -q > 0; every yy with yq<ε|y - q| < \varepsilon satisfies y<q+ε=0y < q + \varepsilon = 0 by [L2], hence ySy \notin S. If q0q \ge 0 and q2>2q^2 > 2, then q0q \ne 0 since 02=0<20^2 = 0 < 2, so q>0q > 0; put ε:=min{q, (q22)(2q)1}>0\varepsilon := \min\{\, q,\ (q^2 - 2)(2q)^{-1} \,\} > 0, again a definition by cases. Every yy with yq<ε|y - q| < \varepsilon satisfies y>qε0y > q - \varepsilon \ge 0, so y2>(qε)2y^2 > (q - \varepsilon)^2 by [L4], and (qε)2=q22qε+ε2q22qεq2(q22)=2(q-\varepsilon)^2 = q^2 - 2q\varepsilon + \varepsilon^2 \ge q^2 - 2q\varepsilon \ge q^2 - (q^2 - 2) = 2, whence y2>2y^2 > 2 and ySy \notin S. In both cases a neighbourhood of qq misses SS, so QS\mathbb{Q} \setminus S is open in Q\mathbb{Q}.

L1L2L3L4L5
1.4

For rSr \in S put Br:={yQ:y<r}B_r := \{\, y \in \mathbb{Q} : y < r \,\}; each BrB_r is open in Q\mathbb{Q}, since yBry \in B_r and ε:=ry>0\varepsilon := r - y > 0 give, for every zz with zy<ε|z - y| < \varepsilon, the inequality z<y+ε=rz < y + \varepsilon = r by [L2].

givenL1L2
2.1

The family U:={Br:rS}\mathcal{U} := \{\, B_r : r \in S \,\} is a cover of SS by sets open in Q\mathbb{Q}: given qSq \in S, step 1.2 supplies rSr \in S with q<rq < r, so qBrq \in B_r.

step 1.2step 1.4L1
2.2

U\mathcal{U} has no finite subfamily covering SS: the empty subfamily fails because SS \ne \varnothing by step 1.1; and a nonempty finite subfamily is {Br0,,Brp}\{B_{r_0}, \dots, B_{r_p}\} with every riSr_i \in S, so an induction on pp using the totality of the order of Q\mathbb{Q} produces R:=max{r0,,rp}R := \max\{r_0, \dots, r_p\}, one of the rir_i and hence a member of SS; for each ii one has riRr_i \le R, so R<riR < r_i fails and RBriR \notin B_{r_i}. Thus the element RR of SS lies in no member of the subfamily.

step 1.1step 1.4L1
3.1

The set SS is bounded by step 1.1 and closed in Q\mathbb{Q} by step 1.3, and by steps 2.1 and 2.2 it is not compact in Q\mathbb{Q}, while Q\mathbb{Q} is an ordered field by [L1]. So the claim [A1] fails at F=QF = \mathbb{Q} and is false.

step 1.1step 1.3step 2.1step 2.2A1L1

Remarks

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