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CounterexampleConstruction: AI-generatedVerification: AI-generatedprecheck passjudge pass (z-ai/glm-5.2)audited 2026-07-27
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On N with d(m,n)=1+1/(m+n) for m≠n the sets {n,n+1,… } are nested, closed, bounded and complete with empty intersection

Statement refuted

Refuted claim: in Cantor's intersection theorem (In a complete metric space nested nonempty closed sets whose diameters tend to 0 meet in exactly one point, and this property characterises completeness) the hypothesis diam⁡(Fk)→0 may be dropped; in a complete metric space a nested sequence of nonempty closed bounded sets has nonempty intersection.

Let X:=N (The natural numbers N (von Neumann)) and define

d(m,n):={0if m=n,1+1m+nif m≠n,

where m+n≥1 whenever m≠n, so the reciprocal is defined. Put Fn:={ k∈N:k≥n }. Then d is a metric, (X,d) is complete, every Fn is nonempty, closed, bounded and itself complete, the Fn are nested, and

⋂n∈NFn=∅.

What fails is only the diameter condition: diam⁡(Fn)=1+1/(2n+1)≥1 for every n.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: X=N with the function d above; the sets Fn={k∈N:k≥n}; naturals m,n,p; a real ε>0.

[L1]

N contains 0, and for distinct naturals m≠n one has m+n≥1, so 1/(m+n) is a positive real, at most 1 (The natural numbers N (von Neumann), Canonical naturals are positive and strictly increasing, Inverses of positives are positive, and reciprocation reverses order).

[L4]

Bounded subset and diameter: A is bounded when it lies in a ball, and diam⁡(A)=sup⁡{d(a,b):a,b∈A} for nonempty bounded A; the supremum is the least upper bound (Bounded subset, diameter, distance from a point to a set, and distance between two sets in a metric space, Complete ordered field (least-upper-bound property), Maximum and minimum of a set).

Counterexample

technique · direct
1.1L1L2

d is well defined and symmetric, and d(m,n)=0 exactly when m=n, since for m≠n the value 1+1/(m+n) is at least 1. In fact 1<d(m,n)≤2 for all m≠n, because 0<1/(m+n)≤1.

2.1step 1.1L1L2

d satisfies the triangle inequality d(m,p)≤d(m,n)+d(n,p). If m=p the left side is 0; if n=m or n=p one side of the right-hand sum is 0 and the other equals the left side; and if m, n, p are pairwise distinct then d(m,n)+d(n,p)>1+1=2≥d(m,p). So d is a metric on N.

2.2step 1.1L3

Every subset of N is open, hence also closed: for m∈N the ball B(m,1) is {m}, since d(m,n)>1 for n≠m, so every subset is a union of open balls; complements of subsets are subsets.

2.3step 1.1L3

(X,d) is complete: a Cauchy sequence (xk) tested at ε=1 has an index K with d(xk,xl)<1 for all k,l≥K, which by step 1.1 forces xk=xl; so the sequence is constant from K on and converges to xK∈N.

2.4step 1.1L3L4

Each Fn is bounded: d(0,k)≤2<3 for every k, so Fn⊆X=B(0,3).

3.1step 2.2step 2.3L6

Each Fn is nonempty (it contains n), closed by step 2.2, and complete by [L6]; and Fn+1⊆Fn, so the family is nested.

3.2step 1.1step 2.4L4L5

diam⁡(Fn)=1+1/(2n+1). Indeed the distances realised inside Fn are 0 and the values 1+1/(j+k) for distinct j,k≥n; among such pairs j+k is least when {j,k}={n,n+1}, giving j+k=2n+1, and 1/(j+k) is largest there. So 1+1/(2n+1) is an upper bound of those distances and is itself one of them, hence it is the least upper bound.

4.1step 3.2L3L5

In particular diam⁡(Fn)>1 for every n, so the sequence (diam⁡(Fn)) does not converge to 0: at ε=1 no index makes the diameters smaller than 1.

4.2step 3.1L1

The intersection is empty: for every k∈N we have k∉Fk+1, since k<k+1; so no natural lies in all the Fn.

5.1step 2.3step 3.1step 2.4step 4.1step 4.2∎

So in the complete metric space (X,d) the sets Fn are nonempty, closed, bounded, complete and nested, and their intersection is empty; the only hypothesis of In a complete metric space nested nonempty closed sets whose diameters tend to 0 meet in exactly one point, and this property characterises completeness that they fail is diam⁡(Fn)→0, so that hypothesis cannot be dropped.

Remarks

  • Indexing. N contains 0 here, so d is written with m+n and not with mn or 1/m: at m=0 those would be undefined or degenerate. The clause m≠n is what guarantees m+n≥1, and it is the reason the formula is stated by cases rather than as a single expression.
  • The metric is a small perturbation of the discrete metric, taking values in {0}∪(1,2], and its topology is discrete. Every subset is closed, so closedness is free and carries no information; what the example exploits is that a set can be closed, bounded and complete while its points stay a definite distance apart, so a nested family can drain away to nothing.
  • Contrast with the real line. On R the same sets [n,∞) are nested, nonempty and closed with empty intersection, but they are not bounded, so they are not a Cantor chain either. The present example is sharper: it keeps boundedness and loses only the vanishing of the diameters.
  • Both conclusions of the theorem fail here, not just one. There is neither a common point nor a unique one, which is what one expects: the uniqueness half of In a complete metric space nested nonempty closed sets whose diameters tend to 0 meet in exactly one point, and this property characterises completeness is exactly what the vanishing diameters buy.

Depends on

Dependency tree · 2 levels

Sources