Quantcast
Channel: September 2009 – Annoying Precision
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 2

Some countability proofs

$
0
0

Theorem: The set of finite sequences of elements of a countable set S is countable.

I like this result because it specializes to several other basic countability results: for example, it implies that countable unions, finite products, and the set of finite subsets of countable sets are countable. I know several proofs of this result and I am honestly curious which ones people prefer.

Proof 1

Map a finite sequence a_1, ... a_n of positive integers to the positive integer \sum_{i=1}^{n} 2^{a_1 + ... + a_i}. This map is a bijection by the uniqueness of binary expansion.

Proof 2

Map a finite sequence a_1, ... a_n of non-negative integers to the positive integer 2^{a_1} 3^{a_2} ... p_n^{a_n}. This map is a bijection by the uniqueness of prime factorization.

Proof 3

There are finitely many sequences a_1, ... a_n of positive integers with a_1 + ... + a_n = m for a fixed positive integer m and a countable union of finite sets is countable. In the interest of being more explicit about the bijection here, one can order these sequences first by n and then lexicographically.

Proof 4

If you believe that \mathbb{Q} is countable, map a finite sequence a_1, ... a_n of positive integers to the continued fraction [a_1; a_2, a_3, ... a_n + 1]. This map is a bijection by the uniqueness of continued fraction expansions (as long as they end in a positive integer greater than 1).

Composing this map with the inverse of the map in Proof 1 gives an explicit enumeration of the rationals. I believe it was on the Putnam one year.

Question

Does anyone know any other genuinely different proofs?


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 2

Trending Articles