# Relative compactness of metric space

I know that in a metric space $X$ compactness, countable compactness and sequential compactness of a subspace $X’$ are equivalent using the definition of countable compactness as every infinite subset of $X’$ has an accumulation point in $X’$ and of sequential compactness as every sequence in $X’$ has a subsequence converging to a point in $X’$.

If we define relative countable compactness as every infinite subset of $X’$ has an accumulation point in $X$ and of relative sequential compactness as every sequence in $X’$ has a subsequence converging to a point in $X$, do I correctly understand if I desume, in a straightforward way by taking into account the properties of closed sets in a metric space, that in a metric space $X$ relative compactness, countable relative compactness and sequential relative compactness of a subspace $X’$ are equivalent?

$\infty$ thanks!

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I already showed in this answer that $X’$ relatively compact implies $X’$ relatively countably compact. Also, if $X’$ is relatively compact, the $\overline{X’}$ is compact, and thus sequentially compact (this holds in particular in metric spaces, but also more broadly). So any sequence from $X’$ has a convergent subsequence with limit in $\overline{X’}$, so $X’$ is then relatively sequentially compact as well.

In any space, $X’$ relatively sequentially compact implies $X’$ relatively countably compact: any infinite subset $A$ of $X’$ contains some sequence with all different elements, which has a convergent subsequence to some $x \in X$, and this $x$ is an accumulation point of $A$.

If $X’$ is relatively countably compact, and $X$ is metric (first countable and $T_1$ will already do), let $(x_n)$ be a sequence from $X’$. If $A = \{x_n: n \in \mathbb{N}\}$ is finite, some value occurs an infinite number of times, and yields a convergent subsequence. So assume $A$ is infinite, so it has an accumulation point $p \in X$. Because $X$ is $T_1$, this means that every neighbourhood of $p$ intersects $A$ in infinitely many points. Pick $x_{n_1}$ in $B(p, 1)$, $x_{n_2}$ with $n_2 > n_1$ in $B(p, \frac{1}{2})$, and so on, by recursion. This defines a convergent subsequence of $(x_n)$ that converges to $p$. So $X’$ is relatively countably compact.

If $X’$ is relatively countably compact, and $X$ is metric, then we do get that $X’$ is relatively compact (this is due to Hausdorff, IIRC). I cannot reconstruct a proof right away, but there is one here, e.g. (but this involves Cauchy filters etc.)

It turns out that these notions are also equivalent in some topological vector spaces (spaces of the form $C_p(X)$ where $X$ is compact (Grothendieck), and weak topologicals on normed vector spaces (Eberlein-Smulian)), but these are a bit more involved, I think.