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Exercise

Prove that $\mathcal{B}([0,1])/\text{Null}$ is a complete Boolean algebra.

My Work

We define the operations as the usual set operations: $+$ is $\cup$, $\cdot$ is $\cap$ and $-$ is complement in $[0,1]$. The additive and multiplicative neutral elements are $[\emptyset]$ and $[[0,1]]$, respectively. The axioms all hold true by construction. For completeness, we have to show that every subset has a supremum and an infimum. Let $\{[A_i]\}_{i\in I}$ be a collection of equivalence classes, and define $$\sum_{i\in I} [A_i]=\left[\bigcup_{i\in I} A_i\right];$$ $$\prod_{i\in I}[A_i]=\left[\bigcap_{i\in I} A_i\right].$$

Question

Why are these well-defined up to null sets?

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    Why is $\bigcup_{n\in\mathbb N}A_n$ well-defined up to finite symmetric difference? Finite changes in each of the $A_n$s can combine to make an infinite change in the union? The same problem occurs for intersections. In fact, $\mathcal P(\omega)/\text{fin}$ is not $\sigma$-complete. – Andreas Blass Oct 20 '24 at 17:45
  • @AndreasBlass But that's what my homework says. Maybe my construction is wrong. – Dave the Sid Oct 20 '24 at 19:18
  • @DavetheSid See non-complete Boolean algebras, third example. – amrsa Oct 20 '24 at 20:52
  • @amrsa I know it's not complete, but it's $\sigma$-complete, which is a weaker notion. Btw, Wikipedia does provide a counterexample for completeness, so thank you. – Dave the Sid Oct 20 '24 at 22:32
  • @DavetheSid Actually, that example I refer to, proves that it's not $\sigma$-complete, since it picks an infinite sequence without making any further assumptions about cardinality, so it can be countable. – amrsa Oct 21 '24 at 09:13
  • @amrsa Then is the homework wrong? – Dave the Sid Oct 21 '24 at 10:55
  • @DavetheSid Yes, unless I completely misunderstood what is $\sigma$-completeness (I think it means there is a join and a meet for every countable set). – amrsa Oct 21 '24 at 12:38
  • @amrsa Every countable subset has a supremum and an infimum. Also, what about the completeness of $\mathcal{B}([0,1])/\text{Null}$ because I used the same construction, however, the union of continuum many null sets is not necessarily a null set? – Dave the Sid Oct 21 '24 at 13:30
  • @DavetheSid Well, then you're claiming the wikipedia article is wrong. It could be. I think I already spotted mistakes in wikipedia articles. In this case, I don't think it is. I looked at the reasoning again, and it seems correct. If you disagree, you should say where is the mistake you find there; otherwise, there is nothing more I can argue... Good luck! – amrsa Oct 21 '24 at 14:12
  • @amrsa It turns out that both you and Wikipedia were right, and the teacher made a mistake in the homework: it should've said $\aleph_0$ instead of $\sigma$. Anyway, I'm gonna edit my question so that I can ask the other half of the exercise. – Dave the Sid Oct 23 '24 at 09:39

1 Answers1

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These are not well-defined up to null sets. Indeed, even if all $A_i$ are null so the supremum is supposed to be $[\varnothing]$, you can easily arrange it so that $\bigcup_{i \in I} A_i$ is not null - after all, every subset of $[0, 1]$ is the union of all its singleton subsets, which are all null.

However, $\mathcal{B}([0, 1])/\text{Null}$ is nevertheless complete. The point here is that your definition of supremum does work when $I$ is countable, and an arbitrary supremum can actually be reduced to a countable one in $\mathcal{B}([0, 1])/\text{Null}$. Indeed, let $\{[A_i]\}_{i \in I} \subset \mathcal{B}([0, 1])/\text{Null}$. Let,

$$r = \sup_{F \subset I \text{ finite subset}} m\left(\bigcup_{i \in F} A_i\right)$$

where $m$ is the Lebesgue measure. Then $r \leq 1 < \infty$, so for any $n \in \mathbb{N}$, there exists $F_n \subset I$ finite s.t.,

$$m\left(\bigcup_{i \in F_n} A_i\right) > r - \frac{1}{n}$$

Now, I claim that $\bigcup_{n \in \mathbb{N}} \bigcup_{i \in F_n} A_i$ contains all $A_i$ up to null sets, from which it is not hard to see,

$$\sup_{i \in I} [A_i] = \left[\bigcup_{n \in \mathbb{N}} \bigcup_{i \in F_n} A_i\right]$$

To prove the claim, fix $i_0 \in I$. Let $n \in \mathbb{N}$,

$$\begin{split} m\left(A_{i_0} \setminus \left(\bigcup_{n \in \mathbb{N}} \bigcup_{i \in F_n} A_i\right)\right) &\leq m\left(\left(\bigcup_{i \in F_n \cup \{i_0\}} A_i\right) \setminus \left(\bigcup_{i \in F_n} A_i\right)\right)\\ &= m\left(\bigcup_{i \in F_n \cup \{i_0\}} A_i\right) - m\left(\bigcup_{i \in F_n} A_i\right)\\ &\leq r - m\left(\bigcup_{i \in F_n} A_i\right)\\ &< \frac{1}{n} \end{split}$$

As this holds for all $n \in \mathbb{N}$, letting $n \to \infty$ yields,

$$m\left(A_{i_0} \setminus \left(\bigcup_{n \in \mathbb{N}} \bigcup_{i \in F_n} A_i\right)\right) = 0$$

i.e., $A_{i_0} \subset \bigcup_{n \in \mathbb{N}} \bigcup_{i \in F_n} A_i$ up to a null set, as claimed.

David Gao
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