Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 23 5 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Assume every is finite. Each of its points is isolated: choose, for every other type, a formula separating it from the given one, and conjoin the finitely many choices. Thus every finite tuple in every model has an isolated complete type. Moreover every complete type is realized in every model: its isolating formula is consistent with the complete theory, so the theory entails that the formula has a realization.
For clarity, here is the one-point extension argument needed for both remaining assertions. If tuples and in two models have the same complete type and is any new element in the first, let isolate . The formula belongs to the type of , hence also to that of . Choose with . This extends the tuple map to a partial elementary map. If is different from all earlier entries, the isolating type includes these disequalities, so is new as well.
Apply this argument alternately to the two enumerations of any two countable models. The resulting back-and-forth map is an isomorphism. Thus (ii) implies (i).
Choose any countable model . The same back-and-forth argument, now within , shows that any two tuples of the same complete type are related by an automorphism of a first-order structure. Conversely an automorphism preserves the type. Hence the orbits of on are exactly its complete -types. There are finitely many of them for every , so the automorphism group is an oligomorphic permutation group. Therefore (ii) also implies (iii).