Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/iii/paper-120/2/b/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 120 2 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-09-28
Let be a nonprincipal ultrafilter on an infinite set . It contains no finite set, so a finite does not belong to . An ultrafilter contains exactly one of a set and its complement; hence . Equivalently, every nonprincipal ultrafilter contains the cofinite filter.
Fix a prime number , take , and choose a nonprincipal ultrafilter on . The ultraproductis a field because each factor is a finite field, and it has characteristic because each factor satisfies and for . For every natural number , all sufficiently large factors contain at least distinct elements. The first-order sentence asserting the existence of distinct elements therefore holds in . Thus is infinite, as summarized by infinite field of positive characteristic from an ultraproduct.
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