Real Analysis – Cantor Set in ?² Intersecting Graph of Every Continuous Function [0,1]?[0,1]

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Consider the Cantor ternary set on the real line with the usual topology and define a Cantor set to be any topological space $C$ homeomorphic to the Cantor ternary set.

The idea is to construct a Cantor set $C$ in $\mathbb{R}^{2}$ such that for every continuous function $f:[0,1]\rightarrow [0,1]$ we have $C\cap\operatorname{Graph}(f)\neq\emptyset$, where $\operatorname{Graph}(f) = \{(x,f(x)):x\in[0,1]\}$.

Does the result generalize to $\mathbb{R}^{n}$, $n\ge 3$?

That is, for every positive integer $k$, let $I^{k}$ denote the product $[0,1]\overbrace{\times\cdots\times}^{k\rm\ times}[0,1]$. We seek to find a Cantor set $C$ in $\mathbb{R}^{n}$ such that for every continuous function $f:I^{n-1}\rightarrow I^{n-1}$ we have $C\cap\operatorname{Graph}(f)\neq\emptyset$.

A related question can be found at Is there a cantor set in $\mathbb{R}^{n}-\{0\}$ which intersects every ray from the origin?.

Best Answer

Following Will Brian's comments 1 2, here is a graphical "proof" that the graph of every continuous function from $[0,1]$ to $[0,1]$ intersects my Cantor set whose original description is retained below.

Here are the first three steps $C_1$, $C_2$, $C_3$ of a construction that starts with the diagonal line from $(0,0)$ to $(1,1)$, and then in each step replaces the previous stage with two copies of it, scaled by $\frac{1}{2}$ horizontally and $\frac{2}{3}$ vertically:

Picture of first step of iteration

Picture of second step of iteration

Picture of third step of iteration

and here is $C_7$:

Picture of seventh step of iteration

So: starting with any continuous function $f: [0,1] \to [0,1]$, let $x_1$ be a point where its graph intersects $C_1$, $x_2$ a point where its graph intersects $C_2$, etc. That these intersections exist is visually obvious and not hard to prove rigorously. Any cluster point of this sequence will be a point of intersection between the graph of $f$ and my Cantor set.


Original post: I think there is such a Cantor set, and here is my proposal:

Picture of proposed Cantor set

The first few points are $(0,0)$, $(1,1)$, $(\frac{1}{2}, \frac{1}{3})$, $(\frac{1}{2}, \frac{2}{3})$, then we have $(\frac{1}{4}, \frac{2}{9})$, $(\frac{1}{4},\frac{4}{9})$, $(\frac{3}{4}, \frac{5}{9})$, $(\frac{3}{4}, \frac{7}{9})$, etc. Hopefully that explains the pattern. There is a homeomorphism from the usual Cantor set to this set which takes the middle-third endpoints to the points I started to list above.

I don't have any good ideas about how to prove that the graph of every continuous function intersects this, but I can't see how it could be avoided.

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