We denote by
the Vitali set which is defined as follows:
We say that
are equivalent, and write
, if and only if
is a rational number. This equivalence relation partitions
into an uncountable family of disjoint equivalence classes. By the axiom of choice there is a set
which contains exactly one element from each equivalence class.
Now let
be a sequence of all rationals in
with
and define
(mod 1).
Now we show that the
are pairwise disjoint and
.
Indeed, if
, then
(mod 1) and
(mod 1), with
and
belonging to
. Consequently,
, which means that
and therefore
. This shows that
if
. Since each
is in some equivalence class,
differs modulo 1 from an element in
by a rational number, say
, in
. Thus
, which proves that
.
The opposite inclusion is obvious.
Question 1. Show that there exist sets
such that
, and
and
with strict inequality.
Solution. We put
. Clearly,
is a decreasing sequence. Since the
are pairwise disjoint, we see that
and
. Moreover,
(the last inequality comes from the fact that
is not measurable). It is now enough to show that
and the proof is complete.
Question 2. Show that there exist disjoint
such that
with strict inequality.
Solution. We put
then
are pairwise disjoint and obviously
.
Moreover, all the
are of the same outer measure. Thus
which completes the proof.
Question 3. Show that each of the sets

is non-measurable.
Question 4. Show that if
is a measurable subset of the Vitali set
, then
.
Question 5. Show that there exist sets
and
such that
but

Question 6. Show that any set of positive outer measure contains a non-measurable subset.