Friday, December 21, 2018

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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