In mathematics, a covering number is the number of balls of a given size needed to completely cover a given space, with possible overlaps between the balls. The covering number quantifies the size of a set and can be applied to general metric spaces. Two related concepts are the packing number, the number of disjoint balls that fit in a space, and the metric entropy, the number of points that fit in a space when constrained to lie at some fixed minimum distance apart.
Definition
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Let (M, d) be a metric space, let K be a subset of M, and let r be a positive real number. Let Br(x) denote the ball of radius r centered at x. A subset C of M is an r-external covering of K if:
.
In other words, for every there exists such that .
If furthermore C is a subset of K, then it is an r-internal covering.
The external covering number of K, denoted , is the minimum cardinality of any external covering of K. The internal covering number, denoted , is the minimum cardinality of any internal covering.
A subset P of K is a packing if and the set is pairwise disjoint. The packing number of K, denoted , is the maximum cardinality of any packing of K.
A subset S of K is r-separated if each pair of points x and y in S satisfies d(x, y) ≥ r. The metric entropy of K, denoted , is the maximum cardinality of any r-separated subset of K.
Examples
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The metric space is the real line . is a set of real numbers whose absolute value is at most . Then, there is an external covering of intervals of length , covering the interval . Hence:
The metric space is the Euclidean space with the Euclidean metric. is a set of vectors whose length (norm) is at most . If lies in a d-dimensional subspace of , then:[1]: 337
.
The metric space is the space of real-valued functions, with the l-infinity metric. The covering number is the smallest number such that, there exist such that, for all there exists such that the supremum distance between and is at most . The above bound is not relevant since the space is -dimensional. However, when is a compact set, every covering of it has a finite sub-covering, so is finite.[2]: 61
Properties
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The internal and external covering numbers, the packing number, and the metric entropy are all closely related. The following chain of inequalities holds for any subset K of a metric space and any positive real number r.[3]
Each function except the internal covering number is non-increasing in r and non-decreasing in K. The internal covering number is monotone in r but not necessarily in K.
The following properties relate to covering numbers in the standard Euclidean space, :[1]: 338
If all vectors in are translated by a constant vector , then the covering number does not change.
If all vectors in are multiplied by a scalar , then:
Let be a space of real-valued functions, with the l-infinity metric (see example 3 above).
Suppose all functions in are bounded by a real constant .
Then, the covering number can be used to bound the generalization error
of learning functions from ,
relative to the squared loss:[2]: 61
^ abShalev-Shwartz, Shai; Ben-David, Shai (2014). Understanding Machine Learning – from Theory to Algorithms. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107057135.
^ abMohri, Mehryar; Rostamizadeh, Afshin; Talwalkar, Ameet (2012). Foundations of Machine Learning. US, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262018258.
^Tao, Terence. "Metric entropy analogues of sum set theory". Retrieved 2 June 2014.