Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-analytic-topology-and-axiomatic-set-theory-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2008/b/6/iii/solution
Past exam of the analytic topology and axiomatic set theory course of the University of Oxford 2008 B 6 iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
There are two ways for a set to fail to be the power set of : it may contain an object which is not a subset of , or omit a subset of . A single existential logical formula expressing these alternatives isIts matrix is bounded, so this is . Its negation is precisely the first-order power-set specification
We prove the absoluteness fact needed to exclude a logically equivalent logical formula. If are transitive sets and all parameters lie in , bounded logical formulas have the same truth value in and . Atomic equality and membership agree because both structures use actual membership. Boolean operations preserve agreement. In a bounded quantifier over , transitivity ensures that every element of already lies in , so the two structures quantify over exactly the same elements of . Induction on logical formulas proves the claim. It follows that logical formulas are upward absolute: witnesses in remain available in , and their bounded matrix retains its truth value.
Now use a finite counterexample, so no existence of a transitive model of ZF is assumed. Let , the Finite von Neumann ordinal, and let . These are transitive sets with . Set and , both elements of . Inside , the subsets of which are available as elements of the domain are exactly ; the remaining domain element is not a subset of . Thus satisfies the displayed power-set specification with .
Inside , however, the set is also present and is a subset of , while . Thus the same specification is false in . If were logically equivalent to a logical formula, its truth in would transfer upward to , a contradiction. ThereforeThis proves the requested unrestricted logical non-equivalence. The finite structures are not being claimed to satisfy all of ZF; logical equivalence must hold in them as well as in any models of a stronger theory.
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