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Heine-Borel Theorem

From AoPSWiki

The Heine-Borel theorem is an important theorem in elementary topology.

Statement

Let E be any subset of \mathbb R^n. Then E is compact if and only if E is closed and bounded.

This statement does not hold if \mathbb R^n is replaced by an arbitrary metric space X. However, a modified version of the theorem does hold:

Let X be any metric space, and let E be a subset of X. Then E is compact if and only if E is closed and totally bounded.

In \mathbb R^n the totally bounded sets are precisely the bounded sets, so this new formulation does indeed imply the original theorem.

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