The standard, middle-thirds Cantor set can be thought of as the set of all numbers on the interval [0,1] whose ternary expansions contain no 1s, that is, numbers of the form
∞∑n=1an3−n where (an)∈{0,2}N
It is well known that this Cantor set has Lebesgue measure 0.
I am trying to show that a very similar-looking set, the set of points of the form
∞∑n=1ane−n where (an)∈{−1,1}N
also has Lebesgue measure 0. I initially tried to take a bijection between these sets and show this bijection is a homeomorphism, but then realized homeomorphisms don't necessarily preserve measure.
Is there any way to use properties of the Cantor set to show that the latter set has measure 0?
Answer
First note that the set S is a subset of the interval [−a,a], where
a=∞∑n=1e−n=1e−1≈0.582
The set is self-similar via two affine transformations, each scaling down by a factor of e then shifting either right (+) or left (−) by e−1. In symbols, the functions f±(x)=e−1x±e−1 cover the set:
S=f+(S)∪f−(S).
Here's an image of the first six partial partial sums to guide your intuition.
Now construct a decreasing sequence of sets who each cover S and whose total measure decreases to 0 in the limit. Let K0=[−a,a]. By similarity, the intervals [f±(−a),f±(a)] covers f±(S), so set
K1=[f−(−a),f−(a)]∪[f+(−a),f+(a)],
and continuing with the pattern,
K2=[f−f−(−a),f−f−(a)]∪[f−f+(−a),f−f+(a)]∪[f+f−(−a),f+f−(a)]∪[f+f+(−a),f+f+(a)].
The set Kn consists of 2n disjoint intervals, each of length e−na, so the total measure of Kn is
2n⋅aen=(2e)n1e−1⟶0as n→∞.
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