Cantor-Bernstein Theorem

Theorem 1 If A and B are sets and there exist injections f : A B and g : B A then there exists a bijection between A and B. Proof. We have injections f : A B and g : B A. Consider any b1 B. Let us attempt to construct a sequence b1 , a1 , b2 , a2 , b3 , . . . of alternating elements of A and B in the following way. First, there may or may not exist a1 A such that f (a1 ) = b1 , but if such does exist, it is unique, since f is an injection. So we choose a1 to be the inverse image of b1 (under f ), if it exists. Supposing that we have obtained a1 , we choose b2 to be the unique element of B such that g(b2 ) = a1 . Again, there may not be any such element, but if there is one, it is unique, since g is an injection. Similarly, we choose a2 to be the inverse image of b2 (under f ), if it exists, and so on. If we continue this process as far as possible, one of three things must happen: (1) We reach some an A and stop because there is no b B with g(b) = an . This situation is possible because g need not be a surjection. (2) We reach some bn B and stop because there is no a A with f (a) = bn . (f need not be a surjection.) (3) The process continues for ever. Now for each b B we have a well-dened process which can turn out in one of three ways, and so we can partition the set B into three mutually disjoint subsets. Let BA =all b B such that the process ends with an an , BB =all b B such that the process ends with a bn , and B = all b B such that the process never ends. The same process can be applied starting with elements of A, and likewise A can be partitioned into three disjoint subsets. Let AA =all a A such that the process ends with an an , AB =all a A such that the process ends with a bn , and A = all a A such that the process never ends. We require to show that A B. We do this by demonstrating that AA BA , AB BB and A B . The restriction of f to AA is a bijection from AA to BA . To prove this we must show two things: 1

(a) a AA implies f (a) BA , and (b) for each b BA there is a AA with f (a) = b. For (a), let a AA . Then the process applied to a ends in A. Consider the process applied to f (a). Its rst step takes us back to a, and then it continues with process applied to a, ending in A. Thus f (a) BA , as required. For (b), let b BA . The the process applied to b ends in A, and in particular it must have a rst stage (for otherwise it would end in B with b itself). Hence, b = f (a) for some a A. But the process applied to this a is the same as the continuation of the process applied to b, and therefore it ends in A. Thus a AA , as required, and we have shown that the restriction of f is a bijection from AA to BA . By exactly the same argument we can show that g : BB AB is a bijection, and consequently g 1 : AB BB is a bijection. And lastly f : A B is a bijection, for f is an injection and if b B then b = f (a) for some a A, since the process applied to b must start, and this a belongs to A . This is because the process starting from a is the same as the process starting from b after the rst step, and this never ends, since b B . We can now dene a bijection F : A B by if x AA f (x) f (x) if x A F (x) = 1 g (x) if x AB F is a bijection since AA , A and AB are disjoint, BA , B and BB are disjoint, and f, f and g 1 are respectively bijections. Example 2 We can use the above theorem to prove that X = [0, 1] and Y , the power set (the set of all subsets) of Z + , are equivalent. Dene f : X Y by f (0) = , f (1) = Y and for 0 < x < 1, let x = 0.a1 a2 . . . be the binary expansion of x with no tails of 1s, (if x = 0.01111111 . . ., we change it to 0.1) we put f (x) to be the subset {n : an = 1}. f is an injection. Now we dene g : Y X. Dene g() = 0, and for S = , dene g(S) to be the DECIMAL number 0.a1 a2 . . ., where an = 1 or 0 depending on whether n S or n S. g is an injection. Then by Cantor-Bernstein theorem, X and Y are equivalent (having the same cardinality). Exercise 3 Prove that the image of g in the above example is a Cantor set, starting by removing (1/90, 1/10) (the middle 8/10) from the interval [0, 1/9]; 2 1 2 the result is a set of measure 0. (a + 10 a + ( 10 )2 a + . . . = 9 , where a = 8/90)