Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/iii/paper-121/3/e/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 121 3 e Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Take the least omega-measurable cardinal , with a countably complete ultrafilter on that is nonprincipal. We prove that is -complete. This will give .
Suppose , for , and . Then belongs to . For let be the least with . The pushforward ultrafilteris a countably complete ultrafilter on ; this uses , so restricts to an ultrafilter on . For each , the fibre is contained in , hence is not in . Thus is nonprincipal. If is finite or countable, countable completeness already rules this out. Otherwise would be an omega-measurable cardinal, contradicting minimality of .
Therefore every intersection of fewer than members of lies in . Since is uncountable, it is a measurable cardinal. This proves that the least omega-measurable cardinal is measurable, even if the originally supplied cardinal carried only a countably complete ultrafilter.
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