Exercise 8.1.7

Let E be a binary relation on a set A . Show that there exists a function f : A A such that for all x A , ( x , f ( x ) ) E if and only if there is some y A such that ( x , y ) E .

Answers

Proof. If A = then clearly it must be that E = since E A × A = × = . Hence f = is vacuously such a function. So assume that A so that there is an a A . For any x A define the set Y x = { y A ( x , y ) E } , noting that this could certainly be empty if x is not in the domain of E . Clearly S = { Y x x A } is a system of sets, and so has a choice function g by the Axiom of Choice. We then define a function f : A A by

f ( x ) = { g ( Y x ) Y x a Y x =

for all x A . We claim that f meets the required criteria, so let x be some element of A .

(→) Suppose that ( x , f ( x ) ) E . Then clearly for y = f ( x ) we have that ( x , y ) = ( x , f ( x ) ) E . We note that, if Y = , then y = f ( x ) = a A , and if Y x then y = f ( x ) = g ( Y x ) Y x since g is a choice function so that again y A since clearly Y x A .

(←) Now suppose that there is a y A such that ( x , y ) E . Then clearly by definition we have y Y x so that Y x . Thus f ( x ) = g ( Y x ) Y x since g is a choice function. We therefore have ( x , f ( x ) ) E as desired, again by the definition of Y x . □

User profile picture
2024-07-15 11:42
Comments