Does every set of positive measure contain an uncountable null set?












1














If $E$ is Lebesgue measurable and $m(E)>0$, does there exist an uncountable $Csubset E$ with $m(C)=0$?


This seems intuitively clear but I cannot prove it. Since $E$ has positive measure it contains a nonmeasurable set $V$, and every measurable subset of $V$ is null, but I could not show $V$ contains uncountable measurable subsets. I also tried using the fact that for $alphain(0,1)$ there is an interval $I$ s.t $m(Ecap I)ge alpha m(I)$, attempting to construct a Cantor set inside $I$ with an uncountable intersection with $E$ but I was unsuccessful. Any hints? Is this even true?










share|cite|improve this question



























    1














    If $E$ is Lebesgue measurable and $m(E)>0$, does there exist an uncountable $Csubset E$ with $m(C)=0$?


    This seems intuitively clear but I cannot prove it. Since $E$ has positive measure it contains a nonmeasurable set $V$, and every measurable subset of $V$ is null, but I could not show $V$ contains uncountable measurable subsets. I also tried using the fact that for $alphain(0,1)$ there is an interval $I$ s.t $m(Ecap I)ge alpha m(I)$, attempting to construct a Cantor set inside $I$ with an uncountable intersection with $E$ but I was unsuccessful. Any hints? Is this even true?










    share|cite|improve this question

























      1












      1








      1







      If $E$ is Lebesgue measurable and $m(E)>0$, does there exist an uncountable $Csubset E$ with $m(C)=0$?


      This seems intuitively clear but I cannot prove it. Since $E$ has positive measure it contains a nonmeasurable set $V$, and every measurable subset of $V$ is null, but I could not show $V$ contains uncountable measurable subsets. I also tried using the fact that for $alphain(0,1)$ there is an interval $I$ s.t $m(Ecap I)ge alpha m(I)$, attempting to construct a Cantor set inside $I$ with an uncountable intersection with $E$ but I was unsuccessful. Any hints? Is this even true?










      share|cite|improve this question













      If $E$ is Lebesgue measurable and $m(E)>0$, does there exist an uncountable $Csubset E$ with $m(C)=0$?


      This seems intuitively clear but I cannot prove it. Since $E$ has positive measure it contains a nonmeasurable set $V$, and every measurable subset of $V$ is null, but I could not show $V$ contains uncountable measurable subsets. I also tried using the fact that for $alphain(0,1)$ there is an interval $I$ s.t $m(Ecap I)ge alpha m(I)$, attempting to construct a Cantor set inside $I$ with an uncountable intersection with $E$ but I was unsuccessful. Any hints? Is this even true?







      real-analysis measure-theory






      share|cite|improve this question













      share|cite|improve this question











      share|cite|improve this question




      share|cite|improve this question










      asked 1 hour ago









      Guacho Perez

      3,80211131




      3,80211131






















          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          5














          Yes.



          By regularity, if $m(E)>0$ then there is some closed $Csubseteq E$ with $m(C)>0$. So WLOG assume $E$ is closed (and has measure $1$).



          A variant of the Cantor set construction now lets us "thin" $E$ out to a closed uncountable $Dsubseteq E$ with measure zero. E.g. at our first step we fix $a<b$ such that $m(E_{<a})=m(E_{>b})={1over 3}$, and cut down to $Esetminus (a,b)$.



          (How does the closedness of $E$ matter? Well, we need to argue that the $D$ we construct is in fact as desired. Trivially this $D$ is null, since we've shrunk its measure appropriately at each stage; knowing that $D$ is closed tells us that everything that should be in $D$, is.)






          share|cite|improve this answer





















            Your Answer





            StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
            return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
            StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
            StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
            });
            });
            }, "mathjax-editing");

            StackExchange.ready(function() {
            var channelOptions = {
            tags: "".split(" "),
            id: "69"
            };
            initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

            StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
            // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
            if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
            StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
            createEditor();
            });
            }
            else {
            createEditor();
            }
            });

            function createEditor() {
            StackExchange.prepareEditor({
            heartbeatType: 'answer',
            autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
            convertImagesToLinks: true,
            noModals: true,
            showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
            reputationToPostImages: 10,
            bindNavPrevention: true,
            postfix: "",
            imageUploader: {
            brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
            contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
            allowUrls: true
            },
            noCode: true, onDemand: true,
            discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
            ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
            });


            }
            });














            draft saved

            draft discarded


















            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3050013%2fdoes-every-set-of-positive-measure-contain-an-uncountable-null-set%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown

























            1 Answer
            1






            active

            oldest

            votes








            1 Answer
            1






            active

            oldest

            votes









            active

            oldest

            votes






            active

            oldest

            votes









            5














            Yes.



            By regularity, if $m(E)>0$ then there is some closed $Csubseteq E$ with $m(C)>0$. So WLOG assume $E$ is closed (and has measure $1$).



            A variant of the Cantor set construction now lets us "thin" $E$ out to a closed uncountable $Dsubseteq E$ with measure zero. E.g. at our first step we fix $a<b$ such that $m(E_{<a})=m(E_{>b})={1over 3}$, and cut down to $Esetminus (a,b)$.



            (How does the closedness of $E$ matter? Well, we need to argue that the $D$ we construct is in fact as desired. Trivially this $D$ is null, since we've shrunk its measure appropriately at each stage; knowing that $D$ is closed tells us that everything that should be in $D$, is.)






            share|cite|improve this answer


























              5














              Yes.



              By regularity, if $m(E)>0$ then there is some closed $Csubseteq E$ with $m(C)>0$. So WLOG assume $E$ is closed (and has measure $1$).



              A variant of the Cantor set construction now lets us "thin" $E$ out to a closed uncountable $Dsubseteq E$ with measure zero. E.g. at our first step we fix $a<b$ such that $m(E_{<a})=m(E_{>b})={1over 3}$, and cut down to $Esetminus (a,b)$.



              (How does the closedness of $E$ matter? Well, we need to argue that the $D$ we construct is in fact as desired. Trivially this $D$ is null, since we've shrunk its measure appropriately at each stage; knowing that $D$ is closed tells us that everything that should be in $D$, is.)






              share|cite|improve this answer
























                5












                5








                5






                Yes.



                By regularity, if $m(E)>0$ then there is some closed $Csubseteq E$ with $m(C)>0$. So WLOG assume $E$ is closed (and has measure $1$).



                A variant of the Cantor set construction now lets us "thin" $E$ out to a closed uncountable $Dsubseteq E$ with measure zero. E.g. at our first step we fix $a<b$ such that $m(E_{<a})=m(E_{>b})={1over 3}$, and cut down to $Esetminus (a,b)$.



                (How does the closedness of $E$ matter? Well, we need to argue that the $D$ we construct is in fact as desired. Trivially this $D$ is null, since we've shrunk its measure appropriately at each stage; knowing that $D$ is closed tells us that everything that should be in $D$, is.)






                share|cite|improve this answer












                Yes.



                By regularity, if $m(E)>0$ then there is some closed $Csubseteq E$ with $m(C)>0$. So WLOG assume $E$ is closed (and has measure $1$).



                A variant of the Cantor set construction now lets us "thin" $E$ out to a closed uncountable $Dsubseteq E$ with measure zero. E.g. at our first step we fix $a<b$ such that $m(E_{<a})=m(E_{>b})={1over 3}$, and cut down to $Esetminus (a,b)$.



                (How does the closedness of $E$ matter? Well, we need to argue that the $D$ we construct is in fact as desired. Trivially this $D$ is null, since we've shrunk its measure appropriately at each stage; knowing that $D$ is closed tells us that everything that should be in $D$, is.)







                share|cite|improve this answer












                share|cite|improve this answer



                share|cite|improve this answer










                answered 1 hour ago









                Noah Schweber

                120k10146278




                120k10146278






























                    draft saved

                    draft discarded




















































                    Thanks for contributing an answer to Mathematics Stack Exchange!


                    • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                    But avoid



                    • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                    • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                    Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


                    To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.





                    Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.


                    Please pay close attention to the following guidance:


                    • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                    But avoid



                    • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                    • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                    To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                    draft saved


                    draft discarded














                    StackExchange.ready(
                    function () {
                    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3050013%2fdoes-every-set-of-positive-measure-contain-an-uncountable-null-set%23new-answer', 'question_page');
                    }
                    );

                    Post as a guest















                    Required, but never shown





















































                    Required, but never shown














                    Required, but never shown












                    Required, but never shown







                    Required, but never shown

































                    Required, but never shown














                    Required, but never shown












                    Required, but never shown







                    Required, but never shown







                    Popular posts from this blog

                    Costa Masnaga

                    Fotorealismo

                    Sidney Franklin