MATH 464

Cantor’s Nested Interval Theorem and its Applications

Cantor’s Nested Interval Theorem provides a very useful implication for

sequences of nonempty closed nested intervals where the limit of the difference of the

bounds as both sequences approach infinity is 0. This theorem says that when all of these

intervals are intersected, the intersection consists of only one point. This simple

implication has made this theorem useful in economics, engineering, agriculture and part

of the proof to the Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem. In order to discuss the significance of

this wonderful theorem we must first develop it by way of an informal proof.

Let In = [an,bn] and thus the an’s form a monotone increasing, bounded above

sequence and the bn’s form a monotone decreasing, bounded below sequence. We know

that every monotone, bounded sequence converges. The an’s converge to some number a

and the bn’s converge to some number b such that a is greater than or equal to b. Both

elements are members of the closed interval In for any n. The intersection of In for any n

is the interval [a,b]. Lastly, if the difference approaches 0, then a=b and the intersection

of In for any n consists of exactly one point.

This theorem is essential in proving the Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem which says

that every bounded sequence has a convergent subsequence. This theorem is applied in

many economics concepts to prove existence of certain equilibria for bounded sequences.

These equilibria help economists determine what should be done to allocations to receive

the maximum utility from such decisions. This theorem also helped develop much of the

current equilibrium theory that is widely used in economics today.

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 Cantor’s theorem also has many applications in seismic engineering and

agriculture optimization. We all know that earthquakes are extremely difficult to predict

and it is important to design buildings that can withstand a typical earthquake. If

seismologists only use measured data the intervals can be quite huge. By using theorems

like Cantor’s they are able to simplify the intervals to make building requirements more

realistic and inexpensive. Another application is shown if one wants to run a chicken

farm. We can obtain data from experts about how much of each nutrient a chicken needs

per day. There are different types of feed with different prices and the problem is finding

the correct amount of the different components to minimize the total cost. The data can

only be provided by experts in intervals. When we combine these intervals we are

presented with a interval linear programming problem which describes the best

combination of intervals of all of this data. Cantor’s theorem comes into play because it is

able to reduce the possibilities to very small intervals (some of which converge to one

point).

As I have shown Cantor’s Nested Intervals theorem provides a wide array of

applications in deeper mathematics as well as economics, engineering and agriculture. I

look forward to seeing the applications of this theorem when we discuss topics in

topology.