Selected Problems from Chapter 9.

5
Vinh-Kha Le
Problem 53. When is a nonempty set X with the discrete metric a compact
metric space?
Such an X is a compact metric space if and only if X is finite.
Proof. Suppose that X is finite. The power set P(X) is also finite. Every open
cover must be a subcollection of the power set. Therefore, every open cover is
finite. Now suppose that X is infinite. Notice that the collection of all singleton
subsets of X is an open cover of X. Any finite subcollection would cover only
a finite number of elements. Therefore, the collection of all singleton subsets of
X has no finite subcover.
Problem 54. Let and be equivalent metrics on a nonempty set X. Show
that the metric space (X, ) is compact if and only if the metric space (X, ) is
compact.
Proof. It suffices to prove the condition going forwards. Suppose that (X, ) is
compact and that {O } is an open cover of (X, ). The goal is to show that
there is a finite open subcover {On }N
n=1 of X under . Proposition 7 from 9.2
says that open sets under are open under . This means that {O } is an
open cover of (X, ). Because (X, ) is compact, we know that there is a finite
open subcover {On }N
n=1 of X. This completes the proof.
Problem 59. (Frechet Intersection Theorem) Let {Fn }
n=1 be a descending
countable collection
of
nonempty
closed
subsets
of
a
compact
metric space X.
T
Show that n=1 Fn 6= .
Proof. We can choose an xn from each Fn . The generated sequence {xn }
n=1
has a subsequence {xnk }
that
converges
to
an
x

X
by
the
sequential
k=1
compactness of X. For any given k, xnj Fnj Fnk for all j k. Because
{xnj }
j=k x, x is a limit point of Fnk . Because Fnk is closed, it contains
all its limit points, including x. By the unboundedness of a strictly increasing
sequence of integers, for any n, we can find a k for which nk n and Fnk Fn .
Therefore, x belongs to every Fn as well as the intersection of all Fn .
Problem 60. For a subset E of a metric space X, show that E is totally
bounded if and only if its closure E is totally bounded.

Proof. Let  > 0. Every point x in E is a point of closure of E. Therefore,

we can find an element y E such that (x, y) < /2. Because E is totally
bounded, it is possible to cover E with finitely many balls of radius /2. At
least one of these balls, centered at some z, must contain y. If we take our finite
collection of balls of radius /2 that cover E and increase each ball to a radius
of , we can cover each x in E because
(x, z) (x, y) + (y, z) <



+ =
2 2

by Triangle Inequality. Therefore, E is totally bounded.

Problem 69. For a compact metric space (X, ), show that there are points
u, v X for which (u, v) = diam X.
Proof. By the supremum definition of diam X, we choose un , vn X such that
diam X

1
< (un , vn ) diam X
n

for all n. Through this choice procedure, we generate two sequences {un }
n=1 and
{vn }
n=1 . Sequential compactness of X guarantees the existence of a reindexing
sequence {nk }
k=1 such that the subsequence
{unk }
k=1 converges to an element u X.
Note that {vnk }
k=1 is another sequence in X. Reapplying sequential compactness gives us another reindexing sequence {kj }
j=1 for which the subsequence
{vnkj }
j=1 converges to an element v X.
Note that
{unkj }
j=1 still converges to u
because the subsequence of a convergent sequence converges to the same element. We have two sequences {uj } and {vj } that converge to two values u and
v respectively. Problem 14 from Chapter 9.2 tells us that


1
(u, v) = lim (unkj , vnkj ) = lim diam X
= diam X.
j
j
nkj
This was what was to be constructed.