Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-model-theory-and-godel-s-incompleteness-theorems-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2008/b/8/ii/e/solution
Past exam of the model theory and Gödel's incompleteness theorems course of the University of Oxford 2008 B 8 ii e Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Use the first-order theory of a bijection with named inverse and no finite cycles. Its axioms areEvery first-order model is a disjoint union of free two-sided integer orbits. Write for positive powers of and for powers of when is negative.
This first-order theory is complete and eliminates quantifiers. Every first-order term reduces to , and atomic logical formulas reduce to statements . To eliminate an existential logical variable in a conjunction of literals, first remove self-equalities using the no-finite-cycle axioms. If an equation fixes that logical variable as an integer translate of another logical variable, substitute that value. If no such equation remains, only finitely many points are excluded by the remaining inequalities, so some value exists in the infinite domain. Apply this to disjunctive normal form and then induct on logical formulas. The resulting parameter-free first-order sentences are decided, proving completeness.
For each fixed finite , a complete type records a partition of the logical variables into common orbits and finitely many integer offsets within each block. There are countably many possibilities. Countable first-order models with one orbit and with two orbits are not isomorphic, so the first-order theory is not -categorical.
Thus this example has the source's explicitly defined countable-type property. In fact it also satisfies ordinary omega-stability: over a countable parameter set, an element is either a specified integer translate of a parameter, giving countably many possibilities, or lies in an entirely new orbit, giving one further complete one-type. The same finite-orbit-pattern description handles finite tuples. ThereforeThe source prints the label “-stable”; the construction meets its stated definition as well as the usual stronger omega-stability condition. The difference between countably many and finitely many partial types is exactly why Ryll-Nardzewski does not yield categoricity here.
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