Compactness
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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.
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These labels describe origin, not correctness: citations and verification chips remain separate evidence.
✓ 22 results · all verified · 11 also independently AI-judged
Every result on this page is machine-checked by a proof checker and read in full by a delegated reviewing agent on the owner's instruction; the judge is an additional, independent cross-model AI review of the proofs. The 11 not AI-judged were verified by owner audit (typically over a confirmed judge false positive), not failures.
1 · Prerequisites
Real Analysis
- Construction of the Real Numbers via Cauchy Sequences
- Construction of the Real Numbers via Dedekind Cuts
- Countability and Uncountability
- Foundations of the Real Numbers for Analysis
- Monotone Sequences, Bolzano-Weierstrass, and Cauchy Completeness
- Roots, Rational Powers, and Classical Inequalities
- Sequences and Limits
- Suprema and Infima
- Topology of ℝ
Set Theory
2 · Logical flowchart
3 · Items
Definition
Open cover, subcover, and compact topological space; a compact subset is a subspace that is compact in its own right
Lemma
A subspace is compact exactly when every family of open subsets of the ambient space covering it, indexed or not, has finitely many members covering it
Theorem
For a metric space with its metric topology, compactness in the topological sense is compactness in the metric sense, and the two notions of compact subset coincide
Theorem
A space is compact exactly when every family of closed subsets with the finite intersection property has nonempty intersection
Theorem
A closed subspace of a compact space is compact, and a finite union of compact subspaces is compact
Theorem
In a Hausdorff space a point and a disjoint compact set, and two disjoint compact sets, have disjoint open neighbourhoods; hence every compact subset is closed, and in a compact Hausdorff space the compact subsets are exactly the closed ones
Theorem
A continuous image of a compact space is compact; a continuous real-valued map on a nonempty compact space attains a maximum and a minimum; and a continuous bijection from a compact space to a Hausdorff space is a homeomorphism
Lemma
Tube lemma: if K is compact and an open N ⊆ X × Z contains K × {z₀}, then N contains K × W for some open W ∋ z₀
Theorem
A product of finitely many compact spaces is compact in the product topology
Theorem
Alexander's subbase lemma: if every cover by members of a fixed subbasis has a finite subcover then the space is compact; the proof is an application of Zorn's lemma
Theorem
Tychonoff's theorem: an arbitrary product of compact spaces is compact in the product topology, assuming the Axiom of Choice
Definition
Countably compact, Lindel"of, sequentially compact, limit point compact and σ-compact spaces, and relatively compact subsets
Theorem
Compact implies countably compact, Lindelöf and limit point compact; countably compact together with Lindelöf implies compact; and, at the cost of countable or dependent choice, sequentially compact implies countably compact, countably compact implies limit point compact, and the converse holds when every singleton is closed
Corollary
A subset of ℝⁿ with the product topology is compact exactly when it is closed and bounded, the product topology being the Euclidean metric topology
Definition
Locally compact topological space: every point has a compact neighbourhood; and what this says in a metric space
Theorem
In a locally compact Hausdorff space every point has a neighbourhood base of compact sets, every open subspace and every closed subspace is locally compact, every open set around a point contains an open set with compact closure inside it, and every compact set sits inside an open set with compact closure
Lemma
Dependent choice along a sequence of relations: if Rₙ is entire on A for every n, then from any a there is a sequence with aₙ Rₙ aₙ₊₁
Definition
Baire space: a topological space in which every countable intersection of dense open subsets is dense
Theorem
Assuming dependent choice, every locally compact Hausdorff space is a Baire space
Definition
The one-point (Alexandroff) compactification X^* = X ∪ {∞}, whose open sets are the open sets of X together with the complements in X^* of the closed compact subsets of X
Theorem
X^* is compact and contains X as an open subspace; X is dense in X^* exactly when X is not compact; and X^* is Hausdorff exactly when X is locally compact and Hausdorff
Lemma
On an ordinal with its order topology the sets [0,β] and (α,β] form a basis of clopen sets, the isolated points are exactly the non-limit ordinals, and the space is Hausdorff
Theorem
Every successor ordinal is compact in its order topology and every limit ordinal is not; and, assuming countable choice, ω₁ is countably compact and sequentially compact while ω₁ + 1 is compact
Theorem
Every closed initial segment of the long ray is compact; the long ray is not compact; and, assuming countable choice, it is countably compact and not Lindel"of
Theorem
In a compact Hausdorff space every quasicomponent is connected, so quasicomponents and components coincide
Remark
The quasicompact convention, why compactness of a subset is read intrinsically here, and what each result on this page costs in choice
False statement
FALSE: a compact subset of a topological space is closed
False statement
FALSE: every compact space is sequentially compact
False statement
FALSE: every sequentially compact space is compact
False statement
FALSE: every countably compact space is compact
False statement
FALSE: every subspace of a locally compact space is locally compact
Sources
- Compact space (Wikipedia)
- Cover (topology) (Wikipedia)
- J. Munkres, Topology, 2nd ed., §26
- Stacks Project, Section 5.12: Quasi-compact spaces and maps
- Subspace topology (Wikipedia)
- Metrizable space (Wikipedia)
- S. Morris, Topology Without Tears
- Finite intersection property (Wikipedia)
- Stacks Project, Tag 0059
- Hausdorff space (Wikipedia)
- Extreme value theorem (Wikipedia)
- Tube lemma (Wikipedia)
- Product topology (Wikipedia)
- Tychonoff's theorem (Wikipedia)
- Stacks Project, Tag 08ZU
- Alexander subbase theorem (Wikipedia)
- Zorn's lemma (Wikipedia)
- Stacks Project, Lemma 5.12.15: Alexander subbase theorem
- J. Munkres, Topology, 2nd ed., §37
- Countably compact space (Wikipedia)
- Lindelöf space (Wikipedia)
- Sequentially compact space (Wikipedia)
- Limit point compact (Wikipedia)
- Heine-Borel theorem (Wikipedia)
- Locally compact space (Wikipedia)
- J. Munkres, Topology, 2nd ed., §29
- Stacks Project, Tag 08ZQ
- I. Khatchatourian, Compactifications (MAT327 notes)
- Axiom of dependent choice (Wikipedia)
- Baire space (Wikipedia)
- Baire category theorem (Wikipedia)
- J. Munkres, Topology, 2nd ed., §48
- Stacks Project, Section 5.13: Locally quasi-compact spaces
- Alexandroff extension (Wikipedia)
- Stacks Project, Tag 090A
- Order topology (Wikipedia)
- Ordinal number (Wikipedia)
- First uncountable ordinal (Wikipedia)
- Long line (topology) (Wikipedia)
- MIT OpenCourseWare, 18.901 Introduction to Topology notes
- Connected space (Wikipedia)
- Locally connected space (Wikipedia)
- D. Calegari, Notes on Point Set Topology
- Axiom of choice (Wikipedia)
- H. Herrlich, Axiom of Choice, Lecture Notes in Mathematics 1876, Springer 2006
- Sierpiński space (Wikipedia)