Past exam of the axiomatic set theory course of the University of Oxford / 2011 / 3 / c / Solution

Put $\mu =\mathrm{cf}(\kappa )$ and choose cofinal ordinals ${\alpha }_i<\kappa$, $i<\mu$. With $a_i=|{\alpha }_i|$, the same union comparison and infinite cardinal arithmetic give ${\sum }_{i<\mu }{a}_i=\kappa$. Since $a_i<\kappa$, their successor cardinals satisfy $a_i^{+}\le \kappa$. The König theorem for cardinal numbers therefore givesThis König bound for the Gimel function applies to regular and singular cardinals alike; choosing cofinal ordinals also covers successor cardinal numbers.