Suppose we have a subset $A\subset\mathbb{R}$ of Lebesgue measure zero contained in a compact interval, say $[0,1]$. We know that since $A$ has measure zero we can cover $A$ with a countable set of open intervals, say $\{U_i\}$, such that $\mu(\cup_iU_i)\leq \varepsilon$ for any $\varepsilon$. Now, if we fix some $\varepsilon>0$, can we cover $A$ with a countable set of open intervals, say now $\{V_i\}$, such that $\mu(V_i)\leq\frac{\varepsilon}{2^i}$ for each $i$? That is, can we control the size of each individual set in some way? I have been thinking about this for a bit, and keep running into having to do things an infinite number of times, or having to choose the wrong indices first. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Best Answer
If the property holds, then $A$ has Hausdorff dimension $0$, because $$\sum_{n=1}^\infty \left(\frac{\varepsilon}{2^n}\right)^d=\frac{\varepsilon^d}{2^d-1}$$ can be made arbitrarily small for each fixed $d>0$ by choosing $\varepsilon$ small enough. The Cantor set has Lebesgue measure $0$ and Hausdorff dimension $\log_3(2)$, so it is a counterexample.