Let there be given some conditionally convergent infinite series S. Then let R be some real number, and Qk a rearrangement of S such that the sum is equal to R.
Is Qk unique? In other words, is there some other rearrangement Wk for which the sum of S is also R?
I believe the answer is that Qk is in fact unique, because the cardinality of the set of permutations of the natural numbers (i.e. the positions of each element of the series S), is the same as the cardinality of the real numbers; and therefore the mapping from the real numbers to the rearrangements should be 1−1. Is this line of reasoning valid, or is this result well known?
Answer
The line of reasoning is not valid:
If you find a particular Qk, then I can find infinitely many other rearrangements that give the same value: Pick any finite subset X of N and let σ be any permutation of X. Then the re-rearrangement where we start with Qk and just mix up the subscripts in X according to σ will yield the same sum.
The point is that only rearranging a finite number of terms doesn't change the sum.
Your reasoning breaks down where you say "and therefore the mapping should be 1-1". Just because two sets have the same cardinality doesn't mean any function you think of should be 1-1. Having the same cardinality just means "there is some very specific choice of function which is 1-1 and onto" - it says nothing at all about a generic function you pick between two sets.
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