Alphabeta Math
TheoremStatement: Literature-sourcedProof: AI-adaptedprecheck passverified 2026-09-08 (Codex)
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.

Assuming the Axiom of Choice, a Vitali set is not Lebesgue measurable

Statement

Assume the Axiom of Choice. Let V⊆[0,1] be a Vitali set. Then V is not Lebesgue measurable.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: The Axiom of Choice (The Axiom of Choice) and a Vitali set V⊆[0,1] (Vitali set on [0,1]).

[L1]

Each rational-difference equivalence class in [0,1] meets V in exactly one point (Vitali set on [0,1]).

[L2]

Assuming countable choice, Lebesgue outer measure, Lebesgue measurability and Lebesgue measure are unchanged by translation (Lebesgue outer measure, Lebesgue measurability and Lebesgue measure are unchanged by translation).

[L3]

Assuming countable choice, [0,1] and [−1,2] are Lebesgue measurable with measures 1 and 3 respectively (A box in Rn with parameters ai≤bi is Lebesgue measurable of measure ∏i<n(bi−ai), whichever of its faces are included).

[L4]

Q is countably infinite (Q is countably infinite).

[L5]

A measure vanishes on ∅ and is countably additive on pairwise disjoint measurable sequences (Measures on sigma-algebras).

[L6]

For every real M there is a natural number n≥1 with M<n (Every complete ordered field is Archimedean).

Proof

technique · contradiction
1.1givenL2L3L5L7

AC supplies countable choice: for a sequence of nonempty sets (Xn), apply AC to {Xn:n∈N} and put f(n)=g(Xn) for its choice function g. Thus [L7] and the countable-choice hypotheses in [L2] and [L3] apply. Finite additivity follows from [L5] by padding with empty sets; monotonicity follows by writing a measurable B⊇A as A⊔(B∖A).

1.2L1L4algebra

Take a repetition-free enumeration of Q from [L4] and retain its terms in [−1,1] in their original order, obtaining (qk)k∈N. There are infinitely many retained terms, since 1/(j+1) are distinct members for j∈N; taking successive least retained indices requires no choice. The translates V+qk are pairwise disjoint: an equality v1+qi=v2+qj gives v1−v2∈Q, so [L1] gives v1=v2 and then i=j. They cover [0,1], since each x∈[0,1] has a representative v∈V with x−v∈Q∩[−1,1], and all lie inside [−1,2].

2.1step 1.1step 1.2L2L3L5assume-contra

Suppose, for contradiction, that V is Lebesgue measurable with λ(V)=0. Then every translate V+qk is measurable with measure 0 by [L2], and countable additivity applied to the pairwise disjoint family of step 1.2 gives 1=λ([0,1])≤λ ⁣(⋃k∈N(V+qk))=∑k=0∞λ(V+qk)=0, contradicting [L3].

2.2step 1.1step 1.2L2L3L5L6assume-contra

Suppose instead that V is Lebesgue measurable with λ(V)>0. Since V⊆[0,1], step 1.1 and [L3] give 0<λ(V)≤1. Apply [L6] to the real number 3/λ(V) to choose m≥1 with 3<mλ(V). The first m translates from step 1.2 are disjoint and lie in [−1,2], so finite additivity and translation invariance give 3≥∑k<mλ(V+qk)=mλ(V), a contradiction.

3.1step 2.1step 2.2discharge-contradiction∎

Steps 2.1 and 2.2 rule out both possible values of the measure of a measurable Vitali set, so V is not Lebesgue measurable.

Remarks

  • The selector is given, not constructed in this theorem. Here AC is used only to supply the countable choice required by the measure construction. Obtaining a Vitali set in the first place is a separate existence theorem.

Depends on

Used by

Dependency tree · two levels

58 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