The lower shadow consists of the sets obtained by removing one element from a member:
For a nonempty uniform set family, write its size in its unique decreasing binomial coefficient expansion
The Kruskal-Katona theorem states that
A colexicographic initial segment attains equality; thus this is an exact minimum, not just an asymptotic estimate.
Here is a direct proof of the requested Lovász shadow bound, avoiding any unproved numerical interpolation of the Kruskal-Katona theorem. The real binomial coefficient means . It is strictly increasing for . Since the set family is nonempty and its size is an integer, necessarily .
Apply the usual left coordinate shifts of a set family until the set family is fixed by every shift. A shift preserves its size and does not increase its lower shadow; the witness argument is supplied in Solution 3. Termination follows because every nontrivial shift reduces . It suffices to prove the inequality for this shifted set family.
Induct on , and, for each fixed , on . The cases and give, respectively, the single empty shadow member and the faces of an -set. Split the set family at coordinate one, writing for the members avoiding it and for the sets obtained by deleting it from members containing it. Every -subset of a member of belongs to : replace the one omitted coordinate by coordinate one. Therefore
The two terms count shadow members avoiding and containing coordinate one.
Put . This is positive. If , the Pascal's identity gives . In this case and is a smaller nonempty set family. The mathematical induction hypothesis on family size gives , contradicting its containment in . Consequently . Write , so . The mathematical induction hypothesis on uniformity and the Pascal's identity now give
For the degree-zero term is the constant one, which causes no difficulty.
For the graph application, identify a triangle-free graph with a subset of the possible edges. Removing an edge preserves being triangle-free, so . If is nonempty, the Lovász shadow bound gives
Thus, for with ,
If the next set family is empty its probability is zero, so the same inequality holds without introducing . If , every later set family is empty; the divided expression is undefined and the correct assertion is this zero-probability conclusion.
Iterate the monotonicity of the effective ground-set parameter of a hereditary uniform layer. Whenever , all the intermediate parameters are at least their layer sizes, and all factors below are nonnegative. We obtain the stronger estimate
The second inequality follows from and the fact that decreases with . If the target set family is empty, the requested bound follows directly when its right side is nonnegative. When , the printed product can have signed factors and should instead be stopped at the first empty layer: its unrestricted signed form is not a meaningful probability bound. In the nonzero target range there is no such ambiguity. A uniformly safe extension, for , is
It agrees with the printed expression whenever all its factors are nonnegative. In particular is always safe when , and this includes the requested doubling case.
Taking in the nonzero range,
If the -edge set family is empty the conclusion is immediate; if , interpreting the event as impossible gives the same conclusion. These qualifications distinguish the probability assertion from products or ratios outside their domains.
Use the external external vertex boundary convention
Equivalently, its closed graph neighbourhood is . Some boundary conventions use this closed graph neighbourhood itself; because the compared set families have equal size, either convention gives the same inequality.
Order the Boolean lattice first by increasing size, and within a size by lexicographic order, with the smallest differing coordinate in the earlier set. If is the initial segment in this simplicial order on the discrete cube with , Harper inequality is
In particular, writing , if then .
Here is the full simplicial section compression proof. The cases are immediate. A simplicial initial segment has an initial-segment closed graph neighbourhood: it contains every smaller level, and its remaining upper level is the upper shadow of a lexicographic initial segment. That upper shadow is lexicographic initial because a set has a face in the segment exactly when its earliest face does, and earliest faces preserve lexicographic order.
Assume the result in dimension . For a coordinate , delete it from the present section and write the two sections as . Their neighbourhood sections are exactly
Replace both sections by equally large simplicial initial segments . The mathematical induction hypothesis controls each internal neighbourhood. Both sets in each new union are initial segments, so that union has size equal to the larger of their sizes. The corresponding old union has at least that size. Therefore this simplicial section compression does not enlarge .
Repeatedly compress any noninitial section. Every change strictly reduces the sum of the global simplicial positions of the set family members, so the process terminates at a set family compressed in every section. Suppose an earlier vertex is missing while a later vertex is present. If they agree in any coordinate, they contradict compression of that coordinate's section. Thus . They must also be consecutive in simplicial order: an intermediate vertex, whether present or absent, would create another inversion and would have to equal one of these two complementary vertices. No other inversion is possible for the same reason. Hence is either the required initial segment or that segment with its last vertex exchanged for the next vertex , with complementary.
For completeness, these terminal families for simplicial section compression can be checked explicitly. If , the exceptional consecutive vertices are the last -set and first -set . For , the initial segment is all levels through . After the exchange every vertex of size at most is still in its closed graph neighbourhood: a -set has at least two -faces, so deleting the one face cannot remove it, and itself neighbours a retained smaller set. Thus the new neighbourhood contains the old one. For , the two single-vertex set families have the same neighbourhood.
If , the exceptional pair is and . The initial segment consists of every level below and all -sets containing coordinate one. Its closed graph neighbourhood consists of every level through and the -sets containing coordinate one. For , each of the latter has faces containing coordinate one, so deleting removes no such neighbour. Every lower level remains covered. For , the added vertex itself keeps the sole two-element neighbour covered. Again the exchange does not decrease the neighbourhood. These are the only complementary consecutive pairs, as is seen by checking the central ranks and the lexicographic transition between middle-rank sets containing and avoiding coordinate one.
We have reached a set family whose neighbourhood is at least the initial segment's, without increasing the original neighbourhood. This proves Harper inequality by mathematical induction, including the exceptional compressed set families often omitted from the argument.
For the final request, the usual two-coordinate shift does not increase the boundary of a uniform set family. To see this carefully, let and let move a set containing but not to its partner with replaced by , only if that partner is absent. For any uniform set family ,
Here is the local witness check for the lower shadow inclusion. A shadow member containing neither or both of has an old witness after possibly exchanging in that witness. For a paired shadow vertex containing only, either its old version or its -partner has an old witness, which suffices for its membership in the shifted shadow. For a vertex containing only that survives in the new shadow, its new witness either contains both coordinates, supplying both old shadow partners directly, or is an unshifted -only witness whose -partner was already present. In either event both old shadow partners existed, which is exactly the condition for the -vertex to survive the shadow shift. This exhausts the coordinate patterns.
Taking complements converts an upper shadow into a lower shadow and converts into , proving the second inclusion. Each shift preserves cardinality on the shadow level. The external boundary of an -uniform set family is the disjoint union of its lower and upper shadows, so
The endpoint levels have an empty shadow on one side and obey the same conclusion.
A function in intension is a finite description of a computation, such as a program or a formal construction expression. A function in extension is the resulting input-output map, including its domain if it is partial. Different descriptions may have the same extension: the programs that return directly and that compute describe the same function. Finite descriptions have Gödel numbers; equality of the resulting partial computable functions is a separate semantic question.
The primitive recursive functions are the smallest class of numerical functions containing the zero functions, the successor function and all projection functions, and closed under function composition in recursion theory and primitive recursion. More explicitly, from and the latter operation forms
For function composition in recursion theory, an -ary and -ary give . Zero functions of all allowed arities can be included, with nullary zero included if arity is part of the coding convention. Every resulting function is total: the initial functions are total, function composition in recursion theory preserves totality, and mathematical induction on verifies totality of primitive recursion. Applying structural induction for primitive recursive functions then covers all construction expressions.
Use a fixed effective Gödel numbering of finite tagged construction trees with decidable decoding. A node is tagged as zero, successor, projection, composition, or recursion. The primitive recursive syntax and arity checking algorithm first checks that the input decodes as a finite tree, then works upwards from its leaves. A projection tag is legal exactly when , with output arity . A composition node declares its output arity and is legal when its outer child has arity , there are exactly inner children, and each has arity ; its arity is . The declared arity also handles the case . A recursion node is legal when its base child has arity and its step child has arity ; its arity is . Zero and successor tags have their declared arities. Ill-formed nodes are rejected. The process terminates because there are only finitely many nodes. Thus, for each fixed ,
This is a syntactic assertion about functions in intension. It does not assert that arbitrary machine indices computing primitive recursive functions form a decidable set. That extensional property is nontrivial, hence undecidable by Rice theorem. For an explicit reduction, given a program construct a program that, on every input, waits for to halt and then returns . Its extension is a primitive recursive function if , and otherwise is nowhere defined and so is not a primitive recursive function. A decision procedure for this latter semantic set would decide the diagonal halting set.
Enumerate the decidable syntax set in increasing code order as . There are infinitely many such descriptions; iterating successor after a unary zero expression already supplies infinitely many. Let be the extension of a valid construction and define
To compute , find by the syntax test and interpret its finite construction tree. Evaluate function composition in recursion theory by evaluating the children, and evaluate primitive recursion by the prescribed finite loop of length equal to its final input. Termination follows from the totality argument above, so and are total computable functions.
If were a unary primitive recursive function, some construction would have extension . Then the diagonal argument gives
which is impossible. The displayed is total and computable but not primitive recursive. Repetitions of extensions in the enumeration cause no problem: every possible extension is represented, which is all the diagonal argument needs. The same argument shows that the two-variable interpreter cannot itself be primitive recursive.
The intersection hypothesis says that is a semi-separated scheme. For an affine open subscheme , the intersection is affine. Restricting the given short exact sequence of sheaves to it and applying the affine module-sheaf equivalence gives an exact sequence of global sections:
These are exactly the sections on of the three direct image sheaves. Affine opens form a basis, and every section of the last sheaf on such a basis open lifts to the middle sheaf. This proves surjectivity as a sheaf morphism; left exactness of direct image supplies the other positions. Hence direct image preserves this short exact sequence. The crucial ingredient is exactness of sections of quasi-coherent sheaves on an affine intersection; arbitrary open immersions need not have this property.
For the cohomology comparison, every nonempty finite intersection
is affine. This follows by mathematical induction, intersecting the affine intersection already obtained with the next affine open. The restriction of to it is quasi-coherent, so vanishing of quasi-coherent cohomology on an affine scheme gives
We now prove why this local vanishing gives the acyclic cover theorem, rather than identifying the two sorts of cohomology without a comparison.
Take a flasque resolution . Here a flabby sheaf has surjective restriction maps; its restrictions to open subsets are still flabby and have zero higher sheaf cohomology. Form the double complex
The horizontal differential is the alternating restriction map ; the vertical one is induced by the resolution. They commute, so the total differential in bidegree is and has square zero. The Čech resolution on a semi-separated scheme uses precisely these intersections.
A flabby sheaf has zero positive Čech cohomology for a finite open cover, and its degree-zero Čech cohomology is its global sections. One way to establish this auxiliary fact is to use the exact augmented two-open complex
Exactness at the first two terms is the sheaf gluing axiom; the last map is onto because a section on the intersection extends to . For the induction step, write for the union of all but the last open and for the last open. Separate Čech cochains according to whether their index list contains the last index. The resulting two-block complex compares the smaller cover of with its restricted cover of , together with in degree zero. By induction those two smaller cover complexes have cohomology only in degree zero, where they give and . The displayed two-open exact sequence then gives zero positive-degree cohomology for the full cover. This proves the auxiliary fact by induction on the number of opens. Thus horizontal cohomology of consists only of in degree zero. Computing the cohomology of the total complex first horizontally therefore gives , by the resolution principle for sheaf cohomology.
On the other hand, vertical cohomology is
since the restricted flasque resolutions compute cohomology on each intersection. The already established affine vanishing makes all rows with zero. The surviving row is exactly the Čech cochain complex . Computing total cohomology first vertically therefore gives . These two computations are justified by the two filtrations of the first-quadrant double complex: in every total degree only finitely many terms occur, and the cover also bounds the horizontal degree. Their edge maps give the natural identification
For negative degrees both groups are zero by convention. In particular, degree zero is the usual identification by the sheaf gluing axiom, not merely a comparison of dimensions.
Interpret the language of ordered rings in the standard natural numbers, with nonlogical symbols . We give a single first-order formula defining , rather than a separate expression with multiplication signs. The key is Gödel beta-function sequence coding. The remainder relation
uses only the allowed symbols; all variables range over . With , it assigns a unique remainder at each position .
The factorial graph formula via remainder coding asserts that one code contains the initial value , the final value , and every recurrence step. Here is the fully expanded formula, with no remainder-function or factorial symbol:
The first equation represents remainder at position zero: its omitted explicit remainder bound follows from . The second line represents remainder at position . The universally checked equations represent the adjacent remainders and impose multiplication by . Uniqueness of remainders therefore forces them, successively, to be , proving by mathematical induction. When , the recurrence clause is empty and the two endpoint clauses force .
Conversely, choose a positive larger than every value in the finite sequence and divisible by each positive integer at most . The moduli , , are pairwise coprime. Indeed, for , a common divisor of divides and is coprime to , so divides . Since divides , the common divisor must be one. The Chinese remainder theorem gives a nonnegative with for every . The chosen values are smaller than their moduli, so they are the actual remainders; the appropriate quotient witnesses then make true. Thus
The formula has fixed length, independent of . For example, writing its displayed syntax in plain text with one-character variables, ordinary parentheses, and explicit logical connectives takes fewer than characters and fewer than logical-symbol tokens. Its length is therefore as a uniform definition of the graph. Numeral names for particular input values, if substituted for the variables, add their own encoding lengths. Over the ordered ring , restrict every quantifier to nonnegative integers and require ; this gives the same definition on its nonnegative part. It is the chosen arithmetic structure, not ring axioms alone, that makes the formula define factorial.
For integers , define the binomial coefficient by
Here the factorial is the product of the positive integers up to . This also counts the -element subsets of an -element set: an ordered choice has possibilities, and each subset is ordered in ways.
Directly from the factorial definition, when ,
This is Pascal's identity.
The required hockey-stick identity follows by mathematical induction on , with fixed. For , both sides are . If it holds at , adding the next binomial coefficient and using Pascal's identity gives
Therefore for every ,
Fix an effective enumeration of partial computable functions, implemented by deterministic machines, and put
These are disjoint computably enumerable sets. To see that they are recursively inseparable sets, suppose a computable set contains and avoids . Its indicator function has some index . If , then , contradicting that output. If , then , contradicting . Thus neither output is possible.
Let be a Nonstandard model of Peano arithmetic. A recursive presentation of a structure here means a presentation on in which its arithmetic operations are total computable functions; equality of presentation codes is ordinary equality. Write for the element represented by the standard numeral . The presentation codes of are fixed constants, so is a total computable function obtained by repeated addition. Presentation codes and the arithmetic values they name must be kept distinct.
Use bounded simulation of a computation predicates saying that machine , on input , has halted by time with output . We can choose these as primitive recursive predicates represented in Peano arithmetic. Determinism and induction on the computation length give, provably in Peano arithmetic, monotonicity in and
A genuine standard halting computation has a finite certificate which Peano arithmetic verifies. Consequently, if or , the corresponding holds in for some standard .
Choose a nonstandard element of . It exceeds every standard numeral. Let be the th prime number, starting with . Peano arithmetic proves the prime-divisibility coding of a finite set needed here: for each , an element can be formed as the product of precisely those with for which holds. Formally,
This is an internally finite product, not a claim that its externally observed index set is finite. Its existence follows by mathematical induction on the cutoff: start with , multiply by the next distinct prime number when its predicate holds, and otherwise retain the product. Unique prime factorization ensures that earlier divisibility decisions are preserved. The standard prime enumeration and these finite-product constructions are provably total in Peano arithmetic.
Define the external subset . If , its standard halting time is below , and monotonicity gives , so . If , its output-one certificate and the provable incompatibility above exclude , so . Hence separates and .
Finally is a computable set. Given standard , compute the ordinary integer and its numeral in the presentation. Enumerate all presentation codes , and for each test the finitely many standard remainders for
Each test is decidable using the assumed total computable functions. The division theorem of Peano arithmetic guarantees a quotient and a remainder below the standard numeral . Every element below that numeral is one of , so the search terminates; the remainder is unique. Return yes exactly when . This makes a computable set, contradicting the recursively inseparable sets construction. Therefore
For , the identity for binomial coefficients
shows that divides . Since is a prime number and is not divisible by , cancellation modulo gives
The binomial theorem consequently gives as a coefficientwise polynomial modular congruence. Apply the same identity with replaced by and use mathematical induction to obtain
This is an iteration of the Frobenius endomorphism in characteristic . Comparing the intermediate coefficients gives the prime-power binomial divisibility result
For , the assertion is the assumed vanishing for coherent ideal sheaves. For , project onto the last component. Its image is a coherent ideal sheaf, and its kernel is a coherent sheaf contained in . Here images and kernels are coherent because a variety is Noetherian. The short exact sequence
gives an exact segment in the long exact sequence in sheaf cohomology. The outer terms vanish by mathematical induction and the hypothesis, so the middle term vanishes. This is ideal-sheaf vanishing for a coherent submodule of a trivial bundle.
Let be the reduced product by a proper filter on a set. Its underlying equivalence relation is when . Operations are interpreted coordinatewise, and a relation holds of the classes exactly when its coordinate truth set belongs to .
Evaluation of a first-order term commutes with passage to the quotient, by mathematical induction on terms. Consequently the desired equivalence holds for every atomic formula, including logical equality. For a formula and representatives , write .
For logical conjunction, . The filter on a set axioms give
Thus the induction hypothesis transfers a conjunction in both directions.
For existential quantification, first suppose . Choose a representative of a witness. Induction gives , and this set is contained in . Upward closure therefore gives .
Conversely, suppose . For each , choose a coordinate witness , and choose an arbitrary element of outside . These simultaneous choices use the axiom of choice, as does the usual product construction. Then , so that truth set belongs to . Induction gives , providing the required witness. Therefore
for every primitive positive formula. The exam's tame formulas are exactly this fragment, built using logical conjunction and existential quantification. No ultrafilter dichotomy was used.