Saturday 17 August 2013

elementary set theory - Is there a simple, constructive, 1-1 mapping between the reals and the irrationals?



Is there a simple, constructive, 1-1 mapping between the reals and the irrationals?



I know that the Cantor–Bernstein–Schroeder theorem
implies the existence
of a 1-1 mapping between the reals and the irrationals,
but the proofs of this theorem

are nonconstructive.



I wondered if a simple
(not involving an infinite set of mappings)
constructive
(so the mapping is straightforwardly specified)
mapping existed.



I have considered
things like

mapping the rationals
to the rationals plus a fixed irrational,
but then I could not figure out
how to prevent an infinite
(possible uncountably infinite)
regression.


Answer



Map numbers of the form $q + k\sqrt{2}$ for some $q\in \mathbb{Q}$ and $k \in \mathbb{N}$ to $q + (k+1)\sqrt{2}$ and fix all other numbers.


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