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The middle-third Cantor set has Hausdorff dimensionIts Lebesgue measure is zero, yet $0<{\mathcal{H}}^d(C)<\infty$. These assertions measure different aspects of size: interval length is too coarse to distinguish this set from a null set, while the critical fractional measuring rule captures its remaining structure.

At level $n$, the construction covers $C$ by $2^n$ intervals of diameter $3^{-n}$. Their total $s$-cost isFor $s>d$ it tends to zero, proving the upper dimension bound. At $s=d$ it equals one, giving ${\mathcal{H}}^d(C)\le 1$. For $s<d$ this particular cover's cost grows, but that alone would not prove a lower bound on Hausdorff measure.

For the matching lower bound, use the Cantor distribution, which assigns mass $2^{-n}$ to each level-$n$ Cantor cylinder. An interval of length $r$ with $3^{-(n+1)}<r\le 3^{-n}$ meets at most two level-$n$ construction intervals, since their gaps are at least $3^{-n}$. Its mass is therefore at mostEvery covering set of diameter $r$ in the line lies in an interval of length $r$, so any small cover must have total $d$-cost at least $1/4$. This is the mass distribution principle in its interval form: $1/4\le {\mathcal{H}}^d(C)\le 1$, sufficient to prove the claimed dimension. The constants are convenient bounds, rather than an assertion of the exact critical Hausdorff measure. In the diagram, the right panel is a finite-stage approximation to the Cantor function, showing how probability is shared while the middle third receives none.

The reusable pattern is to obtain an upper bound by constructing covers and a lower bound by distributing mass. The same strategy underlies Cartesian powers of the Cantor set and the dimension formula for a finite similarity iterated function system satisfying the open set condition.

Let $C$ be the middle-third Cantor set and choose a positive integer $d$ with $d\log 2/\log 3\ge k$; this is possible for every real $k$, including negative $k$. Set $X=C^d\subset {\mathbb{R}}^d$. It is closed and bounded since each factor is compact. If a subset of $X$ is connected, each coordinate projection is a connected subset of $C$ and hence a singleton; therefore the subset itself is a singleton. Thus $X$ is totally disconnected.

For completeness, the dimension of these Cartesian powers of the Cantor set can be checked directly. At stage $n$ there are $2^{dn}$ cubes of side $3^{-n}$, giving vanishing $s$-dimensional cover cost whenever $s>d\log 2/\log 3$. Conversely put independent equiprobable zero-or-two ternary digits on every coordinate. Each stage-$n$ cube has probability $2^{-dn}$. If $3^{-n}\le r<3^{-n+1}$, a Euclidean ball of radius $r$ meets at most a constant depending on $d$ such cubes. Hence its probability is at most $C_d{r}^{d\log 2/\log 3}$. For any sufficiently fine cover, summing this bound over covering sets shows that its cost at exponent $d\log 2/\log 3$ is bounded below by a positive constant, since total probability is one. These upper and lower Hausdorff measure bounds proveThe construction does not claim arbitrarily large Hausdorff dimension in one fixed ambient Euclidean dimension.