Write for the recursively repetition-free labelled trees. Each rooted tree is finite because the inductive definition forms it from an already constructed finite list of finite child rooted trees. Its label list is obtained by visiting the root first, then each child subtree in its prescribed order, using a depth-first traversal of a tree. This list can have repetitions. In particular, different branches may use the same label; the children are required to be distinct rooted trees, not to have distinct root labels.
For any finite label pool , prove by mathematical induction on that is finite. For it is empty. For each root , the children form a finite repetition-free sequence from , which is finite by mathematical induction. There are therefore finitely many child lists for that root, and the finite union over is finite. More explicitly, if is the number of rooted trees on a pool of labels, then
There is no countable choice in this finite mathematical induction.
Now suppose were an injective enumeration of a countably infinite subset of . Their canonical traversal lists give an explicit enumeration of all labels used. If infinitely many different labels occur, the least-first-occurrence procedure gives a countably infinite subset of , a contradiction. Otherwise all labels belong to one finite set . Every then belongs to : recursively its root lies in and its child rooted trees use only with that root removed. But is finite by the preceding mathematical induction, again a contradiction. Finally the single-vertex rooted tree labelled is injective, so is infinite. Hence recursively repetition-free labelled trees preserve Dedekind-finiteness:
Choose a spanning tree of , rooted at . A depth-first traversal of a tree gives a deterministic closed walk
that traverses each edge of once in each direction and visits every vertex. Define stopping times and
The simple random walk is at at time . All these hitting times have finite mean on the finite connected graph. By the Strong Markov property,
The cover time is no larger than . Grouping the summands by the two traversals of each tree edge and applying the commute time identity gives
The effective resistances are measured in the original graph, where each tree-edge pair is adjacent. Part (a) therefore bounds every summand by one, so
For the one-vertex graph, the cover time is zero and the same bound is immediate.
If is an infinite Dedekind-finite set, then is another such set. Single-vertex rooted trees inject into it. A countable sequence of distinct rooted trees gives finite lists of labels by the depth-first traversal of a tree in the prescribed child order. By countable union of explicitly ordered finite lists without choice, an infinite union of labels contradicts Dedekind-finiteness. A finite union is equally impossible, since every rooted tree then lies in the finite set , by mathematical induction on using the recursive child rule. Thus no countably infinite subset of rooted trees exists.