Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 19 5 iv c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
In , take ordered by extension. Strong inaccessibility gives . In , each of these ground levels is therefore countable, while the height is . Thus the unchanged ground set-theoretic tree is an -tree in the extension.
Every ground binary function of length still yields a distinct cofinal branch through this set-theoretic tree. There are such branches. The -chain condition preserves cardinals at and above , so . The ground branch family still has at least that cardinality. ConsequentlyThis Kurepa tree from an inaccessible binary tree uses ground-model levels and branches; it does not claim the full binary set-theoretic tree newly computed in the extension has countable levels.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 19 6 iv b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the displayed family to form the coherent-injection Aronszajn tree. A node at level is a restriction for some . Every such node differs only finitely from . There are countably many finite subsets of the countable domain and countably many assignments of natural-number values to each, so there are only countably many possible finite modifications. Hence each level is countable. It is nonempty because it contains .
Every shorter restriction of a node is again a node, and its predecessors have order type its domain ordinal. Thus this is a set-theoretic tree of height . If it had an uncountable chain in a partial order, its domain heights would be unbounded in , since the levels below any countable height contain only countably many nodes. The union of that chain in a partial order would be an injection , impossible. ThereforeThe countable-level proof uses coherence, whereas the no-branch proof uses injectivity; the two features play different roles.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 24 2 a ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A Kurepa tree is a set-theoretic tree of height , with every level countable, possessing at least distinct cofinal branches. The predecessors of each node are well ordered; their order type is the node's height. A cofinal branch is a maximal chain with nodes at unbounded heights below , equivalently one node at every level after taking its predecessor closure.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 24 3 c ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Start with the set-theoretic tree of initial characteristic functionsordered by extension. The Kurepa-family hypothesis makes each level countable, because its members are in one-to-one correspondence with the distinct traces . Every node extends to every higher level using an that witnesses it. Nodes at limit levels are uniquely determined by their predecessors, and the distinct give distinct cofinal branches.
We can also ensure the splitting requirement in the definition of a normal set-theoretic tree. Keep only nodes through which of these branches pass. There are nodes in total. For a discarded node, at most of the selected branches pass through it, so at most branches meet any discarded node. Remove those branches; branches remain, and each retained node still has remaining branches through it. It therefore has two different retained extensions at some later level, and has a retained extension at every higher level.
Choose increasing countable levels , starting at , continuously at limits, so that all nodes at level split before level . This is possible because each selected level is countable. Restrict to these levels and relabel them by . The retained tree now has one root, extensions at every higher level, at least two immediate successors, and unique limits of predecessor chains. Distinct remaining branches stay distinct on this unbounded set of levels. Hence the resulting normal set-theoretic tree is a Kurepa tree, with
Tree antichain 2026-10-06
A set of pairwise incomparable nodes in a set-theoretic tree. A maximal tree antichain has a comparable member for every node of the tree.
Well-pruned set-theoretic tree 2026-10-06
Every node has an extension at every higher level below the height of the set-theoretic tree. Equivalently, its extension heights are unbounded in the set-theoretic tree height. Having no terminal nodes alone is weaker.