Every subset of a cofinite space is compact
ID: every-subset-of-a-cofinite-space-is-compact
Every subset of a cofinite topological space is a compact subset. To see the finite reduction directly, take an open cover of a nonempty by open sets of and choose one member containing a point of . Since has finite complement, the set is finite. Choose a covering member for each of those remaining points. Those members together with are a finite subcover. The empty set is already compact.
Equivalently, the subspace topology on is itself cofinite: for finite , the trace of is . The argument applies again inside . A concrete open cover of needs only the two members and when these labels are distinct: each fills the other's single gap.
On , the subset of even integers is compact but not closed, because it is infinite and proper. A compact subset of a Hausdorff space is guaranteed to be closed, whereas compactness without the Hausdorff space assumption does not suffice. Changing the topology changes compactness: the same infinite set with its discrete topology has the singleton open cover, which has no finite subcover. The finite-exception argument is special to finite complements; in the cocountable topology, compact subsets of a cocountable space must instead be finite.
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