Let [tex]H\subset\mathbb{R}[/tex] be a bounded Lebesgue measurable set of positive measure, [tex]m(H)\gt 0[/tex]. Prove that [tex]\liminf_{t\to 0}\frac{m\left((H+t)\setminus H\right)}{|t|}\gt 0[/tex], where [tex]H+t=\{x+t: x\in H\}[/tex] and [tex]m[/tex] is Lebesgue measure.
Solution:
Choose [tex]R\gt 0[/tex] with [tex]H\subset[-R, R][/tex] and put [tex]\varphi(t)=m\left((H+t)\setminus H\right)[/tex]. All sets below are obtained from [tex]H[/tex] by translations, differences and unions, hence they are measurable, and Lebesgue measure is translation invariant. Fix [tex]t\ne 0[/tex] and let [tex]k[/tex] be the smallest positive integer with [tex]k|t|\gt 2R[/tex]. Then [tex](k-1)|t|\le 2R[/tex], i.e.
[tex]k\le\frac{2R}{|t|}+1[/tex]
The set [tex]H+kt\subset[-R+kt, R+kt][/tex] is disjoint from [tex][-R, R][/tex] (if [tex]t\gt 0[/tex], then [tex]-R+kt\gt R[/tex]; if [tex]t\lt 0[/tex], then [tex]R+kt\lt -R[/tex]). Hence [tex](H+kt)\setminus H=H+kt[/tex] and
[tex]m\left((H+kt)\setminus H\right)=m(H+kt)=m(H)[/tex]
On the other hand,
[tex](H+kt)\setminus H\subset\bigcup_{i=1}^{k}\big((H+it)\setminus(H+(i-1)t)\big)[/tex]
Indeed, if [tex]x\in H+kt[/tex] and [tex]x\notin H[/tex], let [tex]i[/tex] be the smallest index in [tex]\{0, 1, \ldots, k\}[/tex] with [tex]x\in H+it[/tex]; then [tex]i\ge 1[/tex] and [tex]x\in(H+it)\setminus(H+(i-1)t)[/tex]. Each of these sets is a translate, [tex](H+it)\setminus(H+(i-1)t)=\big((H+t)\setminus H\big)+(i-1)t[/tex], so its measure is [tex]\varphi(t)[/tex]. By the subadditivity of the measure
[tex]m(H)\le k\,\varphi(t)\le\left(\frac{2R}{|t|}+1\right)\varphi(t)\Rightarrow\frac{\varphi(t)}{|t|}\ge\frac{m(H)}{2R+|t|}[/tex]
for every [tex]t\ne 0[/tex]. Letting [tex]t\to 0[/tex], we obtain
[tex]\liminf_{t\to 0}\frac{m\left((H+t)\setminus H\right)}{|t|}\ge\frac{m(H)}{2R}\gt 0[/tex]