No universal short Hausdorff-image path exists
ProvedErdos1041.Counterexample.erdos1041_hausdorff_negationdegree-seven-counterexampleerdos-1041polynomial-lemniscate
It is false that every monic complex polynomial of degree n≥2 with roots in the open unit disc has two root occurrences connected by a path inside its strict unit lemniscate whose image has one-dimensional Hausdorff measure less than 2. Root occurrences are counted by a two-element submultiset of the polynomial’s roots.
Preamble
import Definitions.Def_ErdosProblems_Erdos1041_Counterexample_Defs import Definitions.Def_ErdosProblems_Erdos1041_Counterexample_BarrierAlgebra import Definitions.Def_ErdosProblems_Erdos1041_Counterexample_BarrierGraphs import Definitions.Def_ErdosProblems_Erdos1041_Counterexample_BarrierSigns import Definitions.Def_ErdosProblems_Erdos1041_Counterexample_Bottleneck import Definitions.Def_ErdosProblems_Erdos1041_Counterexample_InstanceBarriers import Definitions.Def_ErdosProblems_Erdos1041_Counterexample_InstanceCritical import Definitions.Def_ErdosProblems_Erdos1041_Counterexample_InstanceConnectivity import Definitions.Def_ErdosProblems_Erdos1041_Counterexample_HausdorffLength import Mathlib import Mathlib.Algebra.Polynomial.Derivative import Mathlib.Algebra.Polynomial.Div import Mathlib.Algebra.Polynomial.Roots import Mathlib.Analysis.Calculus.Deriv.Polynomial import Mathlib.Analysis.Real.Pi.Bounds import Mathlib.Analysis.SpecialFunctions.Complex.Log import Mathlib.Analysis.SpecialFunctions.Pow.Real import Mathlib.Analysis.SpecialFunctions.Trigonometric.Basic import Mathlib.Tactic import Mathlib.Tactic.ComputeDegree import Mathlib.Tactic.NormNum import Mathlib.Tactic.Ring import Mathlib.Topology.Connected.LocallyConnected import Mathlib.Topology.Connected.PathConnected import Mathlib.Topology.EMetricSpace.BoundedVariation import Mathlib.Topology.MetricSpace.Contracting import Mathlib.Topology.Order.IntermediateValue /-! External source: ani, erdosproblems.com forum thread 1041, 7 Sept 2026. -/ /-! # Erdős #1041 with length as one-dimensional Hausdorff measure Formal Conjectures states Erdős #1041 with the length of a path defined as the one-dimensional Hausdorff measure `μH[1]` of its image. `erdos1041_counterexample` bounds the total variation of a parametrisation instead. This module proves the Hausdorff form for the same polynomial `f`, and in a stronger shape: every preconnected subset of the strict lemniscate `Ω(f)` that contains two distinct roots has one-dimensional Hausdorff measure greater than two (`erdos1041_counterexample_hausdorff`). The image of any path joining two roots is such a set. The argument reuses the bottleneck geometry of `Bottleneck.lean` and adds no arc-extraction, rectifiability or length-of-arc lemma. Removing the slit preimage from the component of `Ω(f)` through the critical point leaves an open set in which no preconnected subset contains both roots, because the polynomial restricted there is a covering of a simply connected base. So a preconnected set `K` through both roots must, for every radius between the slit preimage and a root, meet the circle of that radius about the critical point inside the connected component of that root (`bottleneck_sheet_crossing`). The two components are disjoint open sets, the distance to the critical point is 1-Lipschitz, and on the real line `μH[1]` is Lebesgue measure, so `μH[1] K` is at least the sum of the two radial lengths (`s3_bottleneck_hausdorff`). That is the same bound `s3_bottleneck_length` gives for total variation, so the numerical margin of `Assembly.lean` applies unchanged. `erdos1041_hausdorff_negation` and `erdos1041_hausdorff_answer_false` state the Formal Conjectures parent `Erdos1041.erdos_1041` in its own vocabulary, with `fcLength` its `length`, and refute it. The mathematics of the counterexample is ani's. The polynomial is the single member `s = 10⁻⁶` of ani's family fixed in `Defs.lean`. -/ noncomputable section open scoped ENNReal open MeasureTheory Polynomial Metric /-! ## The slit domain separates the two roots -/ /-! ## Crossing every circle inside each sheet -/ /-! ## From radial crossings to Hausdorff measure -/ /-! ## The instance `f` -/ /-! ## The Formal Conjectures parent, in its own vocabulary -/ -- The binder `h` below is unused, exactly as in the upstream statement this restates. open Erdos1041.Counterexample
Formal statement
set_option linter.unusedVariables false in
theorem Erdos1041.Counterexample.erdos1041_hausdorff_negation :
¬ ∀ (n : ℕ) (f : ℂ[X]), n ≥ 2 → f.natDegree = n → f.Monic →
f.rootSet ℂ ⊆ Metric.ball 0 1 →
∃ (z₁ z₂ : ℂ) (h : ({z₁, z₂} : Multiset ℂ) ≤ f.roots) (γ : Path z₁ z₂),
Set.range γ ⊆ { z : ℂ | ‖f.eval z‖ < 1 } ∧ fcLength (Set.range γ) < 2 := by sorry
Source
Lean source: https://github.com/wcook04/plectis-erdos-lean/blob/cc7e541cf2081c6fef5a5e377d52e365e33b01eb/ErdosProblems/Erdos1041/Counterexample/HausdorffLength.lean#L403-L443
Construction by ani: https://www.erdosproblems.com/forum/thread/1041#post-8861
Related paper and provenance: https://github.com/wcook04/plectis-erdos/blob/551bae6dc6e732cf85172d66323c8d2bc77ba962/paper/1041/erdos-1041-lemniscate-newton-flow.tex#L25-L99
Paper prior-art bibliography: https://github.com/wcook04/plectis-erdos/blob/551bae6dc6e732cf85172d66323c8d2bc77ba962/paper/1041/erdos-1041-lemniscate-newton-flow.tex#L1662-L1772
AI-assisted formalization in Will Cook's project; ani is credited for the degree-seven construction. Independent correspondence of the 1958 Problem 5 wording to this modern formulation is unrecorded.