Choose an idempotent ultrafilter on the natural numbers and a color class . The set
also belongs to , and for every . Recursively choosing each new term from the finitely many required translates of puts every nonempty finite sum in .
Hindman theorem states that every finite coloring of admits an infinite sequence whose finite-sums set is monochromatic.
Identify the Stone-Čech compactification of the natural numbers with the compact Hausdorff space of ultrafilters on , equipped with addition on the Stone-Čech compactification of the natural numbers. This makes a compact Hausdorff left-topological semigroup. For completeness, the Ellis–Numakura lemma gives an idempotent in every such semigroup: by the Hausdorff space property and compactness, the intersection of a descending chain of nonempty compact subsemigroups is nonempty, so Zorn's lemma gives a minimal one . For , the compact subsemigroup equals . Hence the nonempty compact subsemigroup
is also , and in particular . Choose the resulting idempotent ultrafilter on the natural numbers .
One color class belongs to . For , write
and define
The identity implies . It also implies that for every : both and the set of for which belongs to lie in , and their intersection is .
Choose . Having chosen with every nonempty finite sum in , choose
This is possible because it is a finite intersection of members of the ultrafilter . Every old finite sum remains in , and every new one has the form and also lies in . By mathematical induction, all nonempty finite sums lie in , proving Hindman's theorem.
Now put
for each . If , then their intersection belongs to and is nonempty, while
Thus the sets have the finite intersection property. Their closures are closed subsets of the compact interval , so their total intersection contains some . Equivalently, every neighbourhood of meets every ; this is the ultrafilter limit of the sequence.
The point is unique. If distinct points both had this property, choose disjoint neighborhoods . The index set must belong to , because otherwise its complement would belong to and the associated would miss . Similarly . Their intersection is empty, contradicting the definition of an ultrafilter.