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ExampleConstruction: AI-generatedVerification: AI-generatedSession-authored (Fable 5 assisted)precheck passjudge pass (z-ai/glm-5.2)audited 2026-07-27
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  • 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.
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The cover of [0,1][0,1] by (1,2/3)(-1, 2/3) and (1/3,2)(1/3, 2) has Lebesgue number 1/31/3, and no larger one

Example

Work in R\mathbb{R} with its usual metric d(x,y)=xyd(x,y) = |x-y| (The absolute value makes R\mathbb{R} a metric space: d(x,y)=xyd(x,y) = |x-y| is a metric, its open balls are the intervals (xr,x+r)(x-r, x+r), and it is unbounded) and let [0,1][0,1] carry the restricted metric (Isometry, isometric embedding, and the subspace metric on a subset, Intervals of R\mathbb{R}: the nine order-convex forms, nondegeneracy, and length). Put

U:=(1, 2/3)[0,1]=[0, 2/3),V:=(1/3, 2)[0,1]=(1/3, 1],U := (-1,\ 2/3) \cap [0,1] = [0,\ 2/3), \qquad V := (1/3,\ 2) \cap [0,1] = (1/3,\ 1],

so that {U,V}\{U,V\} is an open cover of the compact metric space [0,1][0,1] (Open cover, subcover, compact metric space, and compact subset of a metric space, Heine-Borel in Rn\mathbb{R}^n: with the Euclidean metric a subset of Rn\mathbb{R}^n is compact if and only if it is closed and bounded, and the proof by bisection uses no choice principle; the same holds on the real line). Then:

  1. δ=1/3\delta = 1/3 is a Lebesgue number for {U,V}\{U,V\} (Every open cover of a compact metric space has a Lebesgue number: a δ>0\delta > 0 such that every nonempty subset of diameter less than δ\delta lies inside a single member of the cover): every nonempty A[0,1]A \subseteq [0,1] with diam(A)<1/3\operatorname{diam}(A) < 1/3 (Bounded subset, diameter, distance from a point to a set, and distance between two sets in a metric space) is contained in UU or in VV.
  2. No larger δ\delta works: for every real δ>1/3\delta' > 1/3 the set A:=[1/3, 2/3]A := [1/3,\ 2/3] is nonempty with diam(A)=1/3<δ\operatorname{diam}(A) = 1/3 < \delta' and is contained in neither UU nor VV.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: The compact metric space [0,1][0,1] with d(x,y)=xyd(x,y) = |x-y|, and the sets U=[0,2/3)U = [0,2/3) and V=(1/3,1]V = (1/3,1].

[L3]

diam(A)=sup{uv:u,vA}\operatorname{diam}(A) = \sup\{|u-v| : u,v \in A\} for nonempty bounded AA, so uvdiam(A)|u - v| \le \operatorname{diam}(A) for all u,vAu,v \in A (Bounded subset, diameter, distance from a point to a set, and distance between two sets in a metric space).

[L4]

A Lebesgue number for an open cover of a compact metric space is a real δ>0\delta > 0 such that every nonempty subset of diameter less than δ\delta lies in a single member of the cover; one exists (Every open cover of a compact metric space has a Lebesgue number: a δ>0\delta > 0 such that every nonempty subset of diameter less than δ\delta lies inside a single member of the cover).

Verification

technique · direct
1.1

UU and VV are open in [0,1][0,1], being the traces of (1,2/3)(-1,2/3) and (1/3,2)(1/3,2), and UV=[0,1]U \cup V = [0,1], because a point of [0,1][0,1] is either below 2/32/3, and then in UU, or at least 2/3>1/32/3 > 1/3, and then in VV.

L1L2
2.1

Let A[0,1]A \subseteq [0,1] be nonempty with diam(A)<1/3\operatorname{diam}(A) < 1/3, and suppose first that every yAy \in A satisfies y<2/3y < 2/3; then AUA \subseteq U.

L3step 1.1
3.1

Otherwise some aAa \in A has a2/3a \ge 2/3, and then every yAy \in A satisfies yaayadiam(A)>2/31/3=1/3y \ge a - |a - y| \ge a - \operatorname{diam}(A) > 2/3 - 1/3 = 1/3, so A(1/3,1]=VA \subseteq (1/3,1] = V.

L3step 2.1
4.1

In both cases AA lies in a single member of {U,V}\{U,V\}, so 1/31/3 is a Lebesgue number: claim 1.

L4step 2.1step 3.1
5.1

For claim 2 let δ>1/3\delta' > 1/3 be real and put A:=[1/3,2/3]A := [1/3, 2/3], a nonempty subset of [0,1][0,1] with uv1/3|u-v| \le 1/3 for u,vAu,v \in A and with 2/31/3=1/3|2/3 - 1/3| = 1/3 attained, so diam(A)=1/3<δ\operatorname{diam}(A) = 1/3 < \delta'.

L3step 4.1
6.1

A⊈UA \not\subseteq U because 2/3A2/3 \in A and 2/3[0,2/3)2/3 \notin [0,2/3), and A⊈VA \not\subseteq V because 1/3A1/3 \in A and 1/3(1/3,1]1/3 \notin (1/3,1]; so no δ>1/3\delta' > 1/3 is a Lebesgue number for this cover, and 1/31/3 is the largest one: claim 2.

L4step 5.1

Remarks

The number is exactly the overlap. UV=(1/3,2/3)U \cap V = (1/3, 2/3) has length 1/31/3, and that is the Lebesgue number: a set of diameter below the overlap cannot straddle both ends. The example shows that the conclusion of Every open cover of a compact metric space has a Lebesgue number: a δ>0\delta > 0 such that every nonempty subset of diameter less than δ\delta lies inside a single member of the cover is sharp, the lemma asserting only that some positive δ\delta exists.

The strict inequality in the definition matters. The set [1/3,2/3][1/3,2/3] has diameter exactly 1/31/3 and lies in neither member, so a Lebesgue number could not be required to work for subsets of diameter at most δ\delta.

Depends on

Used by

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Sources