An axiomatic characterization of the dimension of subsets of Euclidean spaces (Q808472)

In 1929 \textit{Menger} proposed the following five axioms for a function d defined on a class of spaces. (A1) If \(X\subset Y\), then d(X)\(\leq d(Y)\). (A2) If X is the union of countably many closed subsets \(X_ i\), then \(d(X)\leq \max_ id(X_ i)\). (A3) If X and Y are homeomorphic then \(d(X)=d(Y)\). (A4) Each X is homeomorphic to a subset of a compact space Y such that \(d(X)=d(Y)\). (A5) \(d(\emptyset)=-1\) and \(d(I^ n)=n\) for \(n=1,2,..\). where \(I^ n\) is the n-dimensional cube. Menger showed that for the class of all subspaces of the plane, these axioms force d to coincide with covering dimension. Subsequently in 1968, \textit{Shvedov} showed that for the class consisting of subspaces of Euclidean spaces these axioms are not adequate to characterize covering dimension. (For example, cohomological dimension with respect to a finitely generated abelian group satisfies these axioms). The paper considers an additional axiom. (A6) If \(d(X)<n\), then there are n sets \(X_ i\) such that \(X=X_ 1\cup X_ 2\cup...\cup X_ n\) and \(d(X_ i)\leq 0\) for each i. It is shown that these six axioms characterize covering dimension for the class consisting of all subsets of euclidean spaces as well as for the class consisting of all separable metric spaces.