Bijection between products of countable sets

  • Thread starter Thread starter The1TL
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Bijection Sets
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
2 replies · 3K views
The1TL
Messages
23
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement


Let S1 = {a} be a set consisting of just one element and let
S2 = {b, c} be a set consisting of two elements.

Show that S1 × Z is bijective to S2 × Z.

Homework Equations





The Attempt at a Solution



So I usually prove bijectivity by showing that two sets are equinumerous, But in this case S1 and S2 are not so that makes it more difficult.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
You're right, this problem demonstrates how things can become unintuitive when dealing with infinite sets. If A were any nonempty finite set, this claim would be false, since in that case
[tex] |S_1 \times A| = |S_1||A| = |A|[/tex]
[tex] |S_2 \times A| = |S_2||A| = 2|A| \; .[/tex]

However, since [itex]\mathbb{Z}[/itex] is infinite, we have more leeway. Can you think of a proper subset of [itex]\mathbb{Z}[/itex] that is equinumerous to [itex]\mathbb{Z}[/itex]?
 
here is one idea:

...
...
(a,-3) <--> (c,-2)
(a,-2) <--> (b,-1)
(a,-1) <--> (c,-1)
(a,0) <--> (b,0)
(a,1) <--> (c,0)
(a,2) <--> (b,1)
(a,3) <--> (c,1)
(a,4) <--> (b,2)
...
...

can you prove this is, in fact, a bijection?