Proof that the Power Set of Natural Numbers is

Uncountable

We want to show that the power set of the natural numbers, P(N), is un-
countable. To do this, we will establish a correspondence between subsets of N
and infinite binary strings using a function f .

Function Definition
The function f maps each subset A ⊆ N to an infinite binary string sA :

f (A) = sA = (s0 , s1 , s2 , . . .)
where
(
1 if n ∈ A
sn =
0 if n ∈
/A

1. Proving that f is Injective

To show that f is injective, we need to prove that if f (A) = f (B), then A = B.

Example
Let’s consider two subsets:
- A = {0, 2, 3} - B = {0, 2, 3} (This will be an identical set for our initial
example.)
Step 1: Compute f (A) and f (B):
- f (A) = (1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, . . .) - f (B) = (1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, . . .)
Since f (A) = f (B), we now show that this implies A = B.
Step 2: Assume f (A) = f (B):
Let f (A) = f (B). This means sA = sB .
For every n, if sA (n) = sB (n):
• If sA (n) = 1, then n ∈ A and n ∈ B.

• If sA (n) = 0, then n ∈
/ A and n ∈
/ B.

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 Thus, for every n, n ∈ A if and only if n ∈ B, which means A = B.
Conclusion for Injectivity: Since we showed that if f (A) = f (B), then
A = B, we conclude that f is injective.

2. Proving that f is Surjective

To show that f is surjective, we need to prove that for every infinite binary
string s ∈ {0, 1}∞ , there exists a subset A ⊆ N such that f (A) = s.

Example
Let’s take an arbitrary infinite binary string:
- s = (1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, . . .)
Step 1: Construct the corresponding subset A:
We can define the subset A based on s:

A = {n ∈ N | sn = 1}
In our example, s = (1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, . . .) implies:
• 0 ∈ A (since s0 = 1)
• 1∈
/ A (since s1 = 0)
• 2 ∈ A (since s2 = 1)

• 3 ∈ A (since s3 = 1)
• 4∈
/ A (since s4 = 0)
• 5 ∈ A (since s5 = 1)

• 6∈
/ A (since s6 = 0)
Thus, we get:

A = {0, 2, 3, 5, . . .}
Step 2: Verify that f (A) = s:
Now we check if f (A) = s:
For A = {0, 2, 3, 5, . . .}:

f (A) = (1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, . . .) = s

Conclusion for Surjectivity: Since we can find a subset A for every

infinite binary string s, we conclude that f is surjective.

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Final Summary
• Injective: If f (A) = f (B), then A = B.
• Surjective: For every infinite binary string s, there exists a subset A
such that f (A) = s.

Thus, the function f is a bijection, proving that P(N) is uncountable.

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1 Proof that the Cartesian Product of Two Count-
able Sets is Countable
To prove that the Cartesian product of two countable sets is countable, let us
denote two countable sets as A and B. We want to show that the Cartesian
product A × B = {(a, b) | a ∈ A, b ∈ B} is also countable.

Step 1: Understanding Countability

A set is countable if it is either finite or can be put into a one-to-one correspon-
dence with the natural numbers N. Since A and B are countable, there exist
bijections (one-to-one and onto functions) from A and B to N:

• Let f : A → N be a bijection such that f (ai ) = i for ai ∈ A.

• Let g : B → N be a bijection such that g(bj ) = j for bj ∈ B.

Step 2: Listing Elements of A and B

Since A and B are countable, we can list their elements:

A = {a1 , a2 , a3 , . . .}
B = {b1 , b2 , b3 , . . .}

Step 3: Constructing the Cartesian Product

The Cartesian product A × B consists of all ordered pairs (ai , bj ) where ai ∈ A
and bj ∈ B. We can visualize the pairs as a grid:

b1 b2 b3 ...
a1 (a1 , b1 ) (a1 , b2 ) (a1 , b3 ) ...
a2 (a2 , b1 ) (a2 , b2 ) (a2 , b3 ) ...
a3 (a3 , b1 ) (a3 , b2 ) (a3 , b3 ) ...
.. .. .. .. ..
. . . . .

Step 4: Establishing a Bijection with N

To show that A×B is countable, we need to list the pairs (ai , bj ) in a systematic
way. A common method is to use a diagonal argument.

• First pair: (a1 , b1 )

• Second pair: (a1 , b2 ), (a2 , b1 )

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 • Third pair: (a1 , b3 ), (a2 , b2 ), (a3 , b1 )
• Fourth pair: (a1 , b4 ), (a2 , b3 ), (a3 , b2 ), (a4 , b1 )
• And so on.

In general, the n-th diagonal contains all pairs (ai , bj ) such that i+j = n+1.

Step 5: Defining the Bijection

Define a function h : A × B → N based on the diagonal listing:
• Assign the pairs based on their position in the diagonal sequence. For
instance:

– h((a1 , b1 )) = 1
– h((a1 , b2 )) = 2
– h((a2 , b1 )) = 3
– h((a1 , b3 )) = 4
– h((a2 , b2 )) = 5
– h((a3 , b1 )) = 6
– And so forth.
This function h is a bijection because:

• Every pair (ai , bj ) will appear exactly once in the sequence.

• Every natural number corresponds to a unique pair in A × B.

Conclusion
Since we have established a bijection between A × B and N, we conclude that
the Cartesian product A × B is countable.
Thus, we have proven that the Cartesian product of two countable sets is
countable.

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2 Proof that Bn is Countable
To show that the set Bn , which consists of all n-tuples (a1 , a2 , . . . , an ) where
each ak ∈ A for k = 1, 2, . . . , n and the elements do not need to be distinct, is
countable when A is a countable set, we can proceed as follows:

Step 1: Definition of Bn
The set Bn can be defined as:

Bn = {(a1 , a2 , . . . , an ) | ak ∈ A for k = 1, 2, . . . , n}

Step 2: Countability of A
Since A is a countable set, we can enumerate its elements. This means there
exists a bijection f : A → N. We can list the elements of A as:

A = {a1 , a2 , a3 , . . .}

Step 3: Constructing Bn
Each n-tuple in Bn can be represented by its n components, where each com-
ponent is selected from the set A. Since A is countable, we can express the
selection of n components from A as follows:

Bn = A × A × . . . × A (n times) = An

Step 4: Countability of An
To show that An is countable, we can utilize the property of finite products of
countable sets.

• Base Case: If n = 1, B1 = A, which is countable by definition.

• Induction Step: Assume that Bk is countable for some k. We will show
that Bk+1 is countable.
We can write:

Bk+1 = A × Bk

Since A is countable and Bk is countable by the inductive hypothesis, the

Cartesian product A × Bk is countable. This follows from the fact that
the product of a countable set with another countable set is countable.

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Step 5: Conclusion
By induction, we conclude that Bn is countable for all n.
Thus, we have shown that if A is a countable set, then the set Bn of all
n-tuples formed from elements of A is also countable.
Therefore, the final result is:

If A is countable, then Bn is countable.

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3 Proof: An Infinite Subset of a Countable Set
is Countable
Proof
Let A be a countable set, meaning there is a bijection between A and the set of
natural numbers N, i.e., we can list the elements of A as A = {a1 , a2 , a3 , . . . }.
Now, let B ⊆ A be an infinite subset of A. We want to show that B is
countable.

Step 1: Construct an Injection from B to N

Since B ⊆ A, all elements of B are also elements of A. We know that A is
countable, so we can list the elements of A as A = {a1 , a2 , a3 , . . . }.
Because B is an infinite subset of A, there are infinitely many elements of
A that belong to B. Let us define a function that lists the elements of B in the
order in which they appear in the list for A.
Let b1 be the first element of B in the list of A, b2 be the second element of
B, and so on. In general, for each n ∈ N, let bn be the n-th element of B in the
list of A.
Thus, we have defined a function f : N → B by assigning f (n) = bn , where
bn is the n-th element of B. This function is surjective because every element
of B appears in the list {b1 , b2 , b3 , . . . }, and it is injective because no element is
repeated.

Step 2: Show that B is Countable

Since we have constructed a bijection between N and B, this shows that B is
countable.

Conclusion
An infinite subset B of a countable set A is countable because we can con-
struct a bijection between B and the natural numbers N, which shows that B
is countable.

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Countability of Algebraic Numbers
A number is said to be an algebraic number if it√ is a root of some polynomial
equation with integer coefficients. For example, 2 is algebraic since it is a root
of the polynomial x2 − 2 = 0. However, it is known that π is not algebraic.
We aim to show that the set of all algebraic numbers is countable.

1. Form of an Algebraic Number

An algebraic number is any number that is a root of a polynomial with integer
coefficients. The general form of such a polynomial is:

an xn + an−1 xn−1 + · · · + a1 x + a0 = 0
where the coefficients an , an−1 , . . . , a0 are integers, and n is the degree of
the polynomial.

2. Countability of Polynomials with Integer Coefficients

The set of polynomials of degree n with integer coefficients is countable. For a
fixed degree n, the set of possible coefficients a0 , a1 , . . . , an are elements of Z,
the set of integers, which is countable.
Since the set of all polynomials with integer coefficients is a countable union
of countable sets, it follows that:

The set of all polynomials is countable.

3. Roots of Polynomials
By the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra, a polynomial of degree n has at most
n roots. Each polynomial has a finite number of roots, and since the set of
polynomials is countable, the set of all roots of these polynomials is a countable
union of finite sets.
Thus, the set of algebraic numbers is a countable union of finite sets, and
hence it is countable.

Conclusion
Therefore, the set of algebraic numbers is countable.

Transcendental Numbers
A transcendental number is a real number that is not algebraic, meaning it is
not the root of any polynomial with integer coefficients.

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 Since the set of real numbers is uncountable and the set of algebraic numbers
is countable, the set of transcendental numbers must be the complement of the
algebraic numbers within the real numbers.
The complement of a countable set in an uncountable set is uncountable.
Therefore, the set of transcendental numbers is uncountable.

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