Paper 1, Section II, H

Logic and Set Theory
Part II, 2011

Give the inductive and synthetic definitions of ordinal addition, and prove that they are equivalent.

Which of the following assertions about ordinals α,β\alpha, \beta and γ\gamma are always true, and which can be false? Give proofs or counterexamples as appropriate.

(i) αβ=βα\alpha \beta=\beta \alpha.

(ii) α(β+γ)=αβ+αγ\alpha(\beta+\gamma)=\alpha \beta+\alpha \gamma.

(iii) If αω2\alpha \geqslant \omega^{2} then α+ω2=ω2+α\alpha+\omega^{2}=\omega^{2}+\alpha.

(iv) If αω1\alpha \geqslant \omega_{1} then αω1=ω1α\alpha \omega_{1}=\omega_{1} \alpha.