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TheoremStatement: AI-adaptedProof: AI-adaptedSession-authored (Fable 5 assisted)precheck passjudge pass (z-ai/glm-5.2)audited 2026-07-27
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The Cantor set is compact, perfect, uncountable, nowhere dense and of measure zero, and it contains no interval of positive length, so its only nonempty connected subsets are single points

Statement

Let CC be the Cantor set (The Cantor middle-thirds set as the intersection of the sets CnC_n obtained by removing open middle thirds). Then:

  1. CC is closed and bounded, hence compact (A subset of R\mathbb{R} is compact if and only if it is closed and bounded, Open cover, subcover, compact subset of R\mathbb{R} (every open cover has a finite subcover), and sequentially compact subset);
  2. CC has content zero, and therefore measure zero (Measure zero (a countable cover by intervals of total length below every ε\varepsilon) and content zero (a finite such cover));
  3. CC is perfect (Perfect subset of R\mathbb{R}: closed with no isolated points);
  4. CC is uncountable (Finite, countably infinite, countable, uncountable);
  5. CC contains no interval with two distinct endpoints, and is nowhere dense (Nowhere dense, meager (first category), residual, and second category subsets of R\mathbb{R});
  6. every nonempty connected subset of CC (Separated sets, disconnection, and connected subset of R\mathbb{R}) is a single point.

Claim 6 is what the phrase "totally disconnected" names elsewhere; that phrase is not used here, because no definition of total disconnectedness exists at this point in the reading order. What is proved is exactly the displayed statement, and it is obtained from claim 5 through A subset of R\mathbb{R} is connected if and only if it is order-convex, that is, an interval.

Facts & Assumptions

[L1]

C0=[0,1]C_0 = [0,1], Cn+1=13Cn(23+13Cn)C_{n+1} = \tfrac13 C_n \cup (\tfrac23 + \tfrac13 C_n), C=nCnCmC = \bigcap_n C_n \subseteq C_m for every mm, every Cn[0,1]C_n \subseteq [0,1], 0C0 \in C, and 3n=(31)n3^{-n} = (3^{-1})^n (The Cantor middle-thirds set as the intersection of the sets CnC_n obtained by removing open middle thirds, Intervals of R\mathbb{R}: the nine order-convex forms, nondegeneracy, and length, Integer powers ama^m, Laws of integer exponents).

[L3]

[c,d][c,d] is a closed set and a bounded interval, (c,d)(c,d) is open, Nε(x)=(xε,x+ε)N_\varepsilon(x) = (x-\varepsilon, x+\varepsilon), and every open set contains a neighbourhood of each of its points (Intervals of R\mathbb{R}: the nine order-convex forms, nondegeneracy, and length, Open subset of R\mathbb{R} (every point has a neighbourhood inside it), closed subset (complement open), and clopen, The ε\varepsilon-neighbourhood and the punctured ε\varepsilon-neighbourhood of a point of R\mathbb{R}).

[L4]

Finite unions of closed sets are closed, and an intersection of a nonempty family of closed sets is closed (Arbitrary unions and finite intersections of open subsets of R\mathbb{R} are open, and dually for closed sets).

[L10]

rk0|r|^k \to 0 for r<1|r| < 1 (For r<1|r| < 1 the sequence rkr^k is null, and for r>1|r| > 1 the sequence rk|r|^k diverges to ++\infty); convergence to 00 is tested against rational ε>0\varepsilon > 0 (Limits and Cauchy sequences of reals); z0|z| \ge 0, z=z|z| = z for z0z \ge 0, and uv=uv|uv| = |u||v| (Basic properties of the absolute value).

[L11]

Induction on N\mathbb{N} (The principle of mathematical induction); finite sums split, scale and are monotone in their terms (Finite sums and finite products, by recursion, Laws of finite sums and finite products).

[L12]

Ordered-field arithmetic: 0<10 < 1, so 2>02 > 0, 3>03 > 0, 31>03^{-1} > 0 and 0<231<10 < 2 \cdot 3^{-1} < 1; adding a constant and multiplying by a positive preserve an inequality; the order is total and transitive (The multiplicative identity is positive, Order is preserved by adding a constant and by adding inequalities, Sign rules for products and monotonicity of multiplication, Ordered field, Complete ordered field (least-upper-bound property)). These order-arithmetic facts are stated by their sources for the strict order only; the nonstrict forms used below follow by adjoining the equality case, in which the two sides coincide.

Proof

technique · direct
1.1

CC is compact, claim 1. First, for λ0\lambda \ne 0 and cRc \in \mathbb{R} the set λS+c:={λs+c:sS}\lambda S + c := \{\lambda s + c : s \in S\} is closed whenever SS is: if xλS+cx \notin \lambda S + c then (xc)λ1S(x - c)\lambda^{-1} \notin S, so by [L3] there is a real η>0\eta > 0 with Nη((xc)λ1)S=N_\eta((x-c)\lambda^{-1}) \cap S = \varnothing, and every zz with zx<λη|z - x| < |\lambda|\eta satisfies (zc)λ1(xc)λ1=zxλ1<η|(z-c)\lambda^{-1} - (x-c)\lambda^{-1}| = |z-x| \cdot |\lambda|^{-1} < \eta by [L10] and [L12], hence (zc)λ1S(z-c)\lambda^{-1} \notin S and zλS+cz \notin \lambda S + c. Now every CnC_n is closed, by induction on nn ([L11]): C0=[0,1]C_0 = [0,1] is closed by [L3], and Cn+1C_{n+1} is the union of the two closed sets 13Cn\tfrac13 C_n and 23+13Cn\tfrac23 + \tfrac13 C_n, hence closed by [L4]. So C=nCnC = \bigcap_n C_n is closed by [L4], and C[0,1]C \subseteq [0,1] is bounded by [L1] and [L3]; by [L5] it is compact.

L1L3L4L5L10L11L12
1.2

CC has content zero and measure zero, claim 2. By induction on nn ([L11]) the following holds for every nn: there are mNm \in \mathbb{N} and reals u0v0,,umvmu_0 \le v_0, \dots, u_m \le v_m with Cnjm[uj,vj]C_n \subseteq \bigcup_{j \le m}[u_j,v_j] and jm(vjuj)=(231)n\sum_{j \le m}(v_j - u_j) = (2 \cdot 3^{-1})^{n}. At n=0n = 0 take the single interval [0,1][0,1], of total length 1=(231)01 = (2 \cdot 3^{-1})^0 by [L1]. Given such a list at nn, define 2m+22m + 2 intervals by [uj31,vj31][u_j 3^{-1},\, v_j 3^{-1}] for jmj \le m and [231+ujm131,231+vjm131][2 \cdot 3^{-1} + u_{j-m-1}3^{-1},\, 2 \cdot 3^{-1} + v_{j-m-1}3^{-1}] for m<j2m+1m < j \le 2m+1; they cover 13Cn\tfrac13 C_n and 23+13Cn\tfrac23 + \tfrac13 C_n respectively, hence cover Cn+1C_{n+1}, and their total length is 31(231)n+31(231)n=(231)n+13^{-1}(2 \cdot 3^{-1})^{n} + 3^{-1}(2 \cdot 3^{-1})^{n} = (2 \cdot 3^{-1})^{n+1} by [L11] and [L12]. Since 0<231<10 < 2 \cdot 3^{-1} < 1 by [L12], [L10] gives, for every real ε>0\varepsilon > 0, an nn with (231)nε(2 \cdot 3^{-1})^{n} \le \varepsilon; as CCnC \subseteq C_n by [L1], the corresponding finite list covers CC with total length at most ε\varepsilon. So CC has content zero by [L6], and hence measure zero by [L6].

L1L6L10L11L12
2.1

CC is perfect, claim 3. CC is closed by step 1.1. Let xCx \in C and let the real ε>0\varepsilon > 0 be given. By [L2] write x=Φ(a)x = \Phi(a) with aDa \in D. By [L10] and [L12] fix kNk \in \mathbb{N} with 23k1<ε2 \cdot 3^{-k-1} < \varepsilon, and define bDb \in D by bj:=ajb_j := a_j for jkj \ne k and bk:=2akb_k := 2 - a_k, so bk{0,2}b_k \in \{0,2\} and bab \ne a. Then Φ(b)C\Phi(b) \in C and Φ(b)Φ(a)\Phi(b) \ne \Phi(a) by [L2], while Φ(b)Φ(a)=j0(bjaj)3j1=(bkak)3k1\Phi(b) - \Phi(a) = \sum_{j \ge 0}(b_j - a_j)3^{-j-1} = (b_k - a_k)3^{-k-1} by [L2], all other terms being 00, so Φ(b)x=23k1<ε|\Phi(b) - x| = 2 \cdot 3^{-k-1} < \varepsilon by [L10]. Thus Nε(x)N_\varepsilon(x) contains a point of CC other than xx, for every ε\varepsilon, so xx is not isolated in CC; by [L7] CC is perfect.

step 1.1L2L7L10L12
2.2

CC contains no nondegenerate interval and is nowhere dense, claim 5. By step 1.2 the set CC is null, so by [L6] it contains no [u,v][u,v] with u<vu < v; in particular it contains no interval of any of the four bounded forms with distinct endpoints, since such an interval contains a closed one with distinct endpoints by [L6] and [L12]. Its interior is therefore empty: if Nε(x)CN_\varepsilon(x) \subseteq C for some real ε>0\varepsilon > 0, then [xε21,x+ε21]Nε(x)C[x - \varepsilon \cdot 2^{-1},\, x + \varepsilon \cdot 2^{-1}] \subseteq N_\varepsilon(x) \subseteq C by [L3] and [L12], an interval with distinct endpoints. Since CC is closed by step 1.1, it equals its closure, so [L8] gives that CC is nowhere dense.

step 1.1step 1.2L3L6L8L12
3.1

CC is uncountable, claim 4. CC is nonempty, since 0C0 \in C by [L1], and perfect by step 2.1, so [L7] applies.

step 2.1L1L7
3.2

Connected subsets, claim 6. Let ECE \subseteq C be connected and nonempty. By [L9] EE is order-convex, so if u,vEu, v \in E with u<vu < v then [u,v]EC[u,v] \subseteq E \subseteq C, contradicting step 2.2. Hence no two distinct elements of EE exist, and EE, being nonempty, is a single point.

step 2.2L9L12
4.1

Claims 1 to 6 are steps 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 3.1, 2.2 and 3.2 respectively, so all six hold.

step 1.1step 1.2step 2.1step 2.2step 3.1step 3.2

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