Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/ia/paper-4/8e/b/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ia Paper 4 8E b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-06
Choose an injection . For each , its fiber under the surjection is nonempty, so defineTwo distinct fibers cannot contain the same label , because is an injection and has a single value. Thus is an injection, proving that is a countable set. Taking the least label avoids any need for a separate choice of one element from each fiber. If is empty, surjectivity makes empty as well.
For the unheaded enumeration request, list pairs of positive natural numbers by their sum. An explicit Cantor pairing function isFor , the positive integers give the consecutive labels . These blocks are disjoint, consecutive and cover . Consequently is a bijection from to , so is countable.
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