For subsets , a many-one reduction is a total computable function such that
A Turing reduction is an oracle machine that, using membership queries to , halts on every input and computes the indicator function of . It may make several adaptive queries, and need not preserve the yes/no answer to a single query. A many-one reduction yields a Turing reduction by computing and querying once. Two sets have the same Turing degree when each is Turing reducible to the other. Write for the degree of the diagonal halting set .
We prove the Kleene–Post incomparability theorem by an oracle-assisted finite-extension construction. Fix an effective list of all Turing functionals. We shall build increasing finite binary strings whose unions are the indicator functions of . A finite oracle computation means that the computation halts with output and every oracle query is strictly below . Its answers are supplied by . By the finite oracle use property, every infinite oracle extending preserves this computation.
Here is the decision available from . Given and a finite string , consider
This predicate is semidecidable: enumerate all finite extensions of and dovetail their finite oracle simulations, stopping at the first halting binary output. There is a computably produced program which, on its own index as well as on every other input, performs this search and halts exactly if it succeeds. Membership of its code in therefore decides . In a yes case, running the search finds an actual witness . The decision oracle is essential in a no case; merely waiting would not produce a terminating construction.
Start with empty strings. At stage first ensure
Choose , which is not yet assigned in . Ask whether holds. If yes, find a witness , extend the current string to , and append the bit to the current string. If no, leave the current string unchanged and append to the current string. The yes case permanently forces disagreement at , since later strings extend both commitments. In the no case no final oracle extending the current string can give a binary output at : any such convergent computation would use finitely many bits and hence supply a forbidden finite witness. Thus it cannot be the indicator function of either, regardless of whether it diverges or returns a nonbinary value.
Next, using the strings just obtained, ensure
by the same procedure with the roles reversed. Choose equal to the current length of the string, ask the analogous extension question about the current string, and, if it has witness output , extend to that witness and append to . Otherwise append to . Finally pad both strings with zeros if necessary so that each length is at least , and call the resulting strings . Every operation is computable using the membership oracle and terminates. Earlier disagreements remain protected because no already fixed bit is ever changed.
Set and . The length condition makes these total binary functions. To compute either bit with oracle , run the construction through stage , when both strings have length at least , and read that bit. Consequently . Every Turing functional has been defeated in both directions, so
Neither set is computable, since a computable set is Turing reducible to every oracle. Neither can have degree : if , then , contrary to incomparability; the other case is symmetric. Therefore
This proves the requested theorem. The argument does not claim or is computably enumerable; it constructs sets computable in . Obtaining incomparable computably enumerable degrees is the stronger Friedberg–Muchnik theorem, which is not needed for the printed request.
Write a finite binary word as and denote its prefix cylinder set by
More generally, a cylinder set fixes finitely many coordinates, or prescribes a subset of their finite coordinate product, leaving all other coordinates free. Each coordinate factor is discrete, so finite-coordinate inverse images are both open and closed. Thus cylinders are clopen. The basic open sets of the product topology restrict only finitely many coordinates, so cylinders form a base. Any finite-coordinate cylinder is a finite union of prefix cylinders of one sufficiently long common length; the prefix cylinders therefore also form a base.
The Bernoulli space here is Cantor space, with compatible metric
It is a compact metric space: from any sequence, choose successively subsequences constant in the first, second and subsequent coordinates, and take the diagonal subsequence. Agreement on the first coordinates bounds the distance by , proving convergence. Compactness also follows from Tychonoff theorem.
Every cylinder indicator function is continuous because the cylinder is clopen. Hence is a vector subspace of the space of continuous functions on a compact space. To prove density, fix and . By uniform continuity, choose so that implies . Choose a point in each length- prefix cylinder and put
Then and . This proves cylinder-function density in Cantor space:
Positivity of implies monotonicity. The pointwise bounds therefore give
Evaluation on attains equality, so is continuous and has norm one. This is the norm of a positive functional on C(K).
The object extended to open sets is the set function , rather than the functional itself. Positivity gives , and linearity gives finite additivity on disjoint cylinders. To construct its extension directly, use the disjoint cylinder decomposition of open subsets of Cantor space. For an open , take the shortest prefixes for which . They are prefix-free, their cylinders are disjoint, and their union is . Define
For , use the empty prefix; for , use the empty sum.
This value is independent of the chosen disjoint prefix-cylinder decomposition. Indeed, compare two such decompositions and . For each fixed , its intersections with the give a disjoint open cover of the compact cylinder . Compactness reduces this to finitely many nonempty intersections. Each intersection is a prefix cylinder or is empty, so finite additivity gives . Sum over and rearrange the nonnegative double sum. Doing the same with each proves equality of the two totals.
For disjoint open sets , combine their disjoint cylinder decompositions to obtain one for . Rearrangement of nonnegative sums proves countable additivity on this family of open sets. The extension is unique because any countably additive extension must have the prescribed sum on every disjoint cylinder decomposition. Open sets are not themselves a sigma-algebra; countable additivity here concerns disjoint open families and their open union.
For the Borel probability measure, let be the algebra of finite unions of prefix cylinders. It is also the algebra of clopen sets, because every clopen set is compact and has a finite cylinder cover. Define on . If with all sets in , compactness of gives a finite subcover by the . Disjointness makes all remaining members empty. Thus finite additivity already establishes the premeasure condition.
The Caratheodory extension theorem gives a unique measure on . This is the Borel sigma-algebra, since the cylinders are a countable base; . Its values on open sets agree with the extension above. For cylinder simple functions,
Both sides are continuous in the supremum norm, so cylinder-function density in Cantor space gives
Any other Borel probability measure with this property agrees on every cylinder indicator function, hence on , and uniqueness in the Caratheodory extension theorem makes it equal to . This proves the Cantor-space representation of positive functionals without assuming the general representation theorem.
Now let be the supplied continuous surjection. The pullback
is a unital isometric embedding: surjectivity gives . On the vector subspace , define . This is well-defined, has norm one and satisfies .
The real Hahn-Banach theorem extends to on all of with the same norm. Norm preservation alone does not automatically mean positivity, so verify it. If , then and
Scaling proves positivity for every nonnegative . This is the unital contraction positivity criterion, giving a positive extension from a unital subspace of C(K).
Represent by the already constructed Borel probability measure on and take the pushforward measure . Continuity of makes its Borel inverse images measurable, and . The pushforward integral identity gives
This is compact-metric representation by Cantor-space pullback. The hypothesis already excludes an empty . The measure is on the Borel sets; no uniqueness claim on an unspecified larger collection of subsets is needed.
The span of the asset payoff functions has dimension at most . If there were disjoint measurable events of positive probability, their indicator functions would be linearly independent as random variables modulo almost-sure equality. Indeed, restricting a zero linear combination to forces its th coefficient to vanish. Market completeness would put all these independent functions inside a span of dimension at most , a contradiction.
This implies the stronger meaningful partition conclusion: terminal information has at most (n) positive-probability atoms. Start with the whole sample space and split any event which is not a probability atom of a measure into two positive-probability measurable subsets. Each split increases the number of disjoint positive events, so no more than splits are possible. The resulting partition has components, and each is a probability atom of a measure, since otherwise another split would be possible. Null sets can be included in a component without altering any random variable modulo null sets.
On such an atom every measurable real-valued random variable is constant almost surely: if its distribution on that atom were not concentrated at one value, an appropriate level set would split the atom. Hence every terminal claim is described by its values. This proves the finite branching bound in a complete market for one period, rather than the vacuous weaker observation that the whole space itself is one event.