Compact iff complete and totally bounded
A metric space is compact exactly when it is complete and totally bounded.
Compact iff complete and totally bounded: Let be a metric space. Then the following are equivalent:
- is a compact set.
- is a complete metric space and totally bounded.
Equivalent characterizations
Equivalently, a subset is compact in the subspace topology if and only if is complete and totally bounded.
Remarks
This characterization packages compactness implies completeness and compactness implies total boundedness into a single criterion that is often easier to verify than the open cover definition.