Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/ia/paper-4/7e/iii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 ia Paper 4 7E iii Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Use uncountability by interleaving prescribed binary coordinates. For each arbitrary binary sequence , define another binary sequence byThere are infinitely many zero coordinates, namely , so . There are also infinitely many coordinates agreeing with the prescribed binary expansion, namely , so . The coordinates recover , making this map an injection of the uncountable set of all binary sequences into . If were a countable set, composing with an injection into would make all binary sequences countable, contrary to part (i). Therefore The construction works for every prescribed binary sequence ; no special distribution property of the digits of is needed.
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