Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Cantor set
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
=== Descriptive set theory === The Cantor set is a [[meagre set]] (or a set of first category) as a subset of <math>[0, 1]</math> (although not as a subset of itself, since it is a [[Baire space]]). The Cantor set thus demonstrates that notions of "size" in terms of cardinality, measure, and (Baire) category need not coincide. Like the set <math>\mathbb{Q}\cap[0,1]</math>, the Cantor set <math>\mathcal{C}</math> is "small" in the sense that it is a null set (a set of measure zero) and it is a meagre subset of <math>[0, 1]</math>. However, unlike <math>\mathbb{Q}\cap[0,1]</math>, which is countable and has a "small" cardinality, <math>\aleph_0</math>, the cardinality of <math>\mathcal{C}</math> is the same as that of <math>[0, 1]</math>, the continuum <math>\mathfrak{c}</math>, and is "large" in the sense of cardinality. In fact, it is also possible to construct a subset of <math>[0, 1]</math> that is meagre but of positive measure and a subset that is non-meagre but of measure zero:<ref>{{Cite book|title=Counterexamples in analysis|last=Gelbaum, Bernard R.|date=1964|publisher=Holden-Day|others=Olmsted, John M. H. (John Meigs Hubbell), 1911-1997|isbn=0486428753|location=San Francisco|oclc=527671}}</ref> By taking the countable union of "fat" Cantor sets <math>\mathcal{C}^{(n)}</math> of measure <math>\lambda = (n-1)/n</math> (see Smith–Volterra–Cantor set below for the construction), we obtain a set <math display="inline">\mathcal{A} := \bigcup_{n=1}^{\infty}\mathcal{C}^{(n)}</math>which has a positive measure (equal to 1) but is meagre in [0,1], since each <math>\mathcal{C}^{(n)}</math> is nowhere dense. Then consider the set <math display="inline">\mathcal{A}^{\mathrm{c}} = [0,1] \setminus\bigcup_{n=1}^\infty \mathcal{C}^{(n)}</math>. Since <math>\mathcal{A}\cup\mathcal{A}^{\mathrm{c}} = [0,1]</math>, <math>\mathcal{A}^{\mathrm{c}}</math> cannot be meagre, but since <math>\mu(\mathcal{A})=1</math>, <math>\mathcal{A}^{\mathrm{c}}</math> must have measure zero.
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)