Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2020 / ii / Paper 1 / 16H (Logic and Set Theory)

Choose sets $K,L,M$ of cardinalities $\kappa ,\lambda ,\mu$. Their cardinal arithmetic operations arewhere $K^L$ is the set of functions $L\to K$. The relation $\kappa \le \lambda$ means that there is an injective function $K\to L$.

The currying law for cardinal exponentiation follows from the explicit bijectionand provesMoreover, $2^{\kappa }$ is the cardinality of the power set of a set of size $\kappa$, so Cantor theorem gives

For completeness, identify each cardinal with its initial ordinal. Suppose that some infinite $\kappa$ violates ${\kappa }^2=\kappa$, and choose the least such cardinal. Well-order the pairs $(\alpha ,\beta )\in {\kappa }^2$ first by $\max \{\alpha ,\beta \}$ and then lexicographically. Every proper initial segment is contained in ${\gamma }^2$ together with finitely many boundary pieces for some $\gamma <\kappa$, and has cardinality below $\kappa$ by minimality. The resulting well-order therefore has cardinality at most $\kappa$. The reverse inequality is immediate from $\alpha \mapsto (\alpha ,0)$, contradicting the choice of $\kappa$. Thus the square of an infinite cardinal satisfies ${\kappa }^2=\kappa$.

If $\nu =\max \{\kappa ,\lambda \}$, monotonicity now givesHence the sum and product of two infinite cardinals obey

Assertion (i) can be false. For any infinite $\lambda$, take $\kappa =(2^{\lambda }{)}^{+}$. Then ${\kappa }^{\lambda }\ge \kappa >2^{\lambda }$, so

Assertion (ii) is always true. Since $\kappa$ is infinite and $\kappa \le \lambda$,where the last equality uses ${\lambda }^2=\lambda$. Thus the cardinal exponentiation between two and the exponent gives

Assertion (iii) can be false. Let $\kappa ={\aleph }_0$ and $\lambda =2^{{\aleph }_0}$. Part (ii) and the currying law for cardinal exponentiation giveBy Cantor theorem, $2^{\lambda }>\lambda$, and therefore