Tag Archives: axiom-of-choice

A non-measurable set

We describe here a non-measurable subset of the segment I=[0,1]R.

Let’s define on I an equivalence relation by xy if and only if xyQ. The equivalence relation induces equivalence classes on I. For xI, it’s equivalence class [x] is [x]={yI : yxQ}. By the Axiom of Choice, we can form a set A by selecting a single point from each equivalence class.

We claim that the set A is not Lebesgue measurable.

For all qQ we denote Aq={q+x :xA}. Let’s take p,qQ. If it exists zApAq, it means that there exist u,vA such that
z=p+u=q+v hence uv=qp=0 as u,v are supposed to be unique representatives of the classes of the equivalence relation . Finally if p,q are distincts, ApAq=.

As Lebesgue measure μ is translation invariant, we have for qQ[0,1] : μ(A)=μ(Aq) and also Aq[0,2]. Hence if we denote
B=qQ[0,1]Aq we have B[0,2]. If we suppose that A is measurable, we get
μ(B)=qQ[0,1]μ(Aq)=qQ[0,1]μ(A)2 by countable additivity of Lebesgue measure (the set Q[0,1] being countable infinite). This implies μ(A)=0.

Let’s prove now that
[0,1]qQ[1,1]Aq For z[0,1], there exists uA such that z[u]. As A[0,1], we have q=zuQ and 1q1. And z=q+u means that zAq. This proves the inclusion. However the inclusion implies the contradiction
1=μ([0,1])qQ[1,1]μ(Aq)=qQ[1,1]μ(A)=0

Finally A is not Lebesgue measurable.

A vector space not isomorphic to its double dual

In this page F refers to a field. Given any vector space V over F, the dual space V is defined as the set of all linear functionals f:VF. The dual space V itself becomes a vector space over F when equipped with the following addition and scalar multiplication:
{(φ+ψ)(x)=φ(x)+ψ(x)(aφ)(x)=a(φ(x)) for all ϕ,ψV, xV, and aF.
There is a natural homomorphism Φ from V into the double dual V, defined by (Φ(v))(ϕ)=ϕ(v) for all vV, ϕV. This map Φ is always injective. Continue reading A vector space not isomorphic to its double dual