Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2011 / ii / Paper 1 / 16H / Solution

The inductive definition of ordinal addition is $\alpha +0=\alpha$, $\alpha +(\beta +1)=(\alpha +\beta )+1$, and $\alpha +\lambda ={\sup }_{\beta <\lambda }(\alpha +\beta )$ for a nonzero limit ordinal $\lambda$. The synthetic definition is the order type of the order sum obtained by putting a copy of $\beta$ after a disjoint copy of $\alpha$.

These agree by transfinite induction on the second argument. Appending no points gives $\alpha$; appending one new greatest point gives a successor. At a limit stage, the order sum is exhausted by the increasing initial segments obtained by appending each $\beta <\lambda$, so its order type is their supremum. Thus the synthetic construction satisfies all three recursion clauses, and uniqueness of transfinite recursion proves equivalence.