Alphabeta Math
ExampleConstruction: Literature-sourcedVerification: AI-generatedprecheck passaudited 2026-09-05
How statement and proof provenance work

The first chip identifies the source of the statement or construction; the second identifies the source of its local proof or verification.

  • Literature-sourced: the exact statement appears in a cited source; only wording and notation differ.
  • AI-adapted: a semantically identical restatement of literature-sourced material, modulo indexing, notation, and boundary cases adopted by the library.
  • AI-generated: a genuinely novel statement formulated by AI, with no source for the claim itself.

These labels describe origin, not correctness: citations and verification chips remain separate evidence.

The Cantor function has derivative 0 almost everywhere, is not differentiable on the Cantor set, and still rises from 0 to 1

Example

The Cantor function c:[0,1]→[0,1] is nondecreasing, satisfies c(0)=0 and c(1)=1, has derivative 0 almost everywhere, and has no finite derivative at any point of the Cantor set.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: The Cantor function c and the Cantor set C.

[A1]

The symbols are those of the statement.

Verification

technique · direct
1.1given

By The Cantor function is well defined, satisfies c(x)≤c(y) whenever x≤y, is surjective onto [0,1], and is constant on every interval removed from the Cantor set, every point of [0,1]∖C lies in an open interval on which c is constant. Hence c′(x)=0 for all x∉C. Since C is Lebesgue null by The Cantor set is an uncountable subset of R of Lebesgue measure zero, this proves c′=0 almost everywhere.

2.1step 1.1algebra

Fix x∈C. Write the ternary expansion of x using only digits 0 and 2, and let un≤x≤vn be the two points of C obtained by freezing the first n ternary digits of x and filling the remaining digits with all 0's and all 2's. Then vn−un=3−n and c(vn)−c(un)=2−n by the digit description of The Cantor set is exactly the set of ∑k≥1ak3−k with every ak∈{0,2}, and this gives a bijection with {0,1}N and the definition of the Cantor function. At least one of the two numerator differences c(vn)−c(x) and c(x)−c(un) is at least 2−n−1. For that choice, the corresponding denominator is positive and at most vn−un=3−n, so one of the two secant slopes is at least 2−n−1/3−n=12(3/2)n. These lower bounds are unbounded, so c cannot have a finite derivative at x.

3.1step 1.1step 2.1step 2.2∎

Steps 1.1, 2.1, and 2.2 prove the example.

Depends on

Used by

Nothing in the library uses this result yet.

Dependency tree · two levels

54 results within two dependency steps of this one, each drawn at its shortest distance from it. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, so the chart reads left to right and ends at this result, which carries a heavier outline. Every node is a link to that result. Click elsewhere on the chart to enlarge it.

Sources