Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/iii/paper-116/2/a/solution

Let be a nonprincipal -complete ultrafilter on the measurable cardinal , and fix . Suppose for a contradiction that . Choose distinct subsets for . For each , the ultrafilter property chooses exactly one of
as a member of . Since , -completeness gives .
Any two indices in give subsets having the same membership decision at every , so they give the same . The chosen subsets were distinct, hence . This contradicts the fact that a small set is absent from a complete nonprincipal ultrafilter. Therefore for every , which is precisely the strong limit cardinal condition. This is the measurable cardinal is a strong limit cardinal argument.

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