Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 121 4 e Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let be ZFC together with the assertion of unboundedly many inaccessible cardinals. Given a model of , if it has no inaccessible limit of inaccessibles, it already witnesses the required nonimplication. Otherwise let be its least inaccessible limit of inaccessibles and pass to its rank segment .
Because is an inaccessible cardinal, satisfies ZFC. Its ordinals are precisely those below , and below the inaccessible cardinals are unbounded by the choice of . Inaccessibility of any smaller ordinal is absolute to this segment: it has the same subsets and functions on all smaller ordinals, as in strong-inaccessibility absoluteness from rank agreement. Thus satisfies the unbounded-inaccessibles assertion.
No smaller ordinal can be an inaccessible limit of inaccessibles, by minimality of and the same absoluteness. Also is not an ordinal of itself. ConsequentlyThis rank cutoff at the first inaccessible limit of inaccessibles proves . The soundness theorem for first-order logic then gives if is consistent. This is a model-theoretic relative-consistency argument, and does not infer external transitivity from mere consistency.
If is the least inaccessible limit of inaccessibles, models ZFC and internally has unboundedly many inaccessible cardinals, while none of its ordinals is an inaccessible limit of inaccessibles. Rank agreement makes inaccessibility below absolute. If a model of unboundedly many inaccessibles has no such limit in the first place, no cutoff is needed. This proves the corresponding relative-consistency nonimplication.