159 Practice Final

June 3, 2019

The eight questions are equally weighted. Do as many as you can!

1. Let 𝐴 be a set. Define (by stating the axioms) what it means for 𝐴 to
be a ring. Give an example of a finite ring and an infinite ring (no proof
necessary).
2. State and prove the Schroder-Bernstein theorem.
3. Define the concept of a function between two sets. Given sets 𝐴, 𝐵, we
write 𝐴𝐵 for the set of functions from 𝐵 to 𝐴. Show that, for any set 𝐵,
there are bijections

H𝐵 – H; t0u𝐵 – t0u; t0, 1u𝐵 – 𝒫p𝐵q.

4. Define the Cartesian product of two sets. Let 𝐴, 𝐵 be finite. Prove, by

induction on the cardinality of 𝐴, that

|𝐴 ˆ 𝐵| “ |𝐴||𝐵|.

5. Let 𝐾 be an Archimedean ordered field. Prove that Q is dense in 𝐾, in

the sense that for any elements 𝑎 ă 𝑏 in 𝐾 we can find an element 𝑐 P Q
such that 𝑎 ă 𝑐 ă 𝑏.
6. What is an equivalence relation on a set? Explain what it means to
quotient by an equivalence relation (no proofs are required here). Now
let 𝐴 be a ring and 𝐼 Ă 𝐴 be a subset which is closed under addition and
subtraction, and which is closed under multiplication by elements of 𝐴.
Let ℛ denote the equivalence relation:

ℛ :“ tp𝑎, 𝑏q P 𝐴 ˆ 𝐴|𝑎 ´ 𝑏 P 𝐼u.

Prove that 𝐴{ ℛ inherits the ring structure from 𝐴.

7. Prove that the intersection of a nested sequence of bounded closed non-
empty intervals in R is non-empty. Show, by means of a counterexample,
that the assumption that the intervals are bounded is strictly necessary.
8. Prove that there are infinitely many distinct infinite cardinalities.