Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-model-theory-and-godel-s-incompleteness-theorems-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2008/b/5/iii/solution
Past exam of the model theory and Gödel's incompleteness theorems course of the University of Oxford 2008 B 5 iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
The compactness theorem states that a set of first-order sentences has a first-order model if and only if every finite subset has a first-order model.
For the nontrivial direction suppose every finite subset of is satisfiable. If were inconsistent, a finite formal derivation of a contradiction would use only finitely many premises . Soundness of an arithmetic theory would then exclude a first-order model of , contradicting finite satisfiability. Therefore is first-order consistent. The completeness theorem, proved by adjoining witnesses and constructing a Henkin term model, supplies a first-order model of .
The reverse direction is immediate by restriction of the list of required first-order sentences. The key reason compactness theorem follows from syntactic completeness is that every formal proof uses only finitely many premises, even when the whole first-order theory is infinite.
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