Are these two statements regarding Transfinite Recursion equivalent

ordinalsset-theorytransfinite-recursion

I have two statements regarding Transfinite Recursion quoted below. It's clear that $S_1$ is the usual Transfinite Recursion Theorem.


Let $V$ be the class of all sets, $\operatorname{Ord}$ be the class of all ordinals, and $G:V\to V$ be a class function.

$S1:$

There exists a class function $F:\operatorname{Ord}\to V$ such that $F(\alpha)=G(F\restriction \alpha)$ for all $\alpha\in\operatorname{Ord}$.

$S2:$

There exists a class function $F:V\times\operatorname{Ord}\to V$ such that $F(z,\alpha)=G(z,F_z\restriction \alpha)$ for all $\alpha\in\operatorname{Ord}$ and $z\in V$ where $F_z\restriction \alpha:=\{\langle\beta,F(z,\beta)\rangle\mid\beta<\alpha\}$.


In my textbook Introduction to Set Theory by Hrbacek and Jech, the authors do not utilize $S_1$ to prove $S_2$. Instead, they modify the proof of $S_1$ into a different proof of $S_2$.

I think it is possible to prove $S_1\implies S_2$, but I've tried to no avail since I can not handle the fact that $F$ in $S_1$ takes only $\alpha$ as input, while $F$ in $S_2$ takes both $z,\alpha$ as inputs.

My question:

  1. Is $S_1$ related to $S_2$, i.e. $S_1\iff S_2$, or $S_1\implies S_2$, or $S_2\implies S_1$?

  2. If $S_1\iff S_2$, or $S_1\implies S_2$, or $S_2\implies S_1$, please leave me some hints so that I can give it a try.

Thank you so much!

Best Answer

It is reasonably clear that $S_2$ implies $S_1$; encode the $G$ you have for $S_1$ into a $G'$ for $S_2$, say by having $G'(z,x)=G(x)$ for all $x$ and $G'(y)=\emptyset$ if $y$ is not an ordered pair. You get an $F'$ and $F'(\emptyset,\alpha)$ is the function you want.

The converse look more troublesome; for each individual set $z$ you can create a function $F_z$ as desired but you must realize that the Recursion Theorem is actually a theorem scheme: for every formula that descibes a function like $G$ there is another formula that describes a function like $F$. This means that you cannot talk about the assignment $z\mapsto F_z$ in order to combine the $F_z$s into one big $F$. You have to look at the proof of $S_1$ and notice that you can sneak in the parameter $z$ in a uniform way and hence convert the proof of $S_1$ into a proof of $S_2$.