Mapping from $(0,1) \times (0,1) \to (0,1)$

elementary-set-theoryfunctions

I am trying to find an injection $f: (0,1) \times (0,1) \to (0,1)$. I don't think my current idea is rigorous enough.

Let $(a,b) \in (0,1) \times (0,1)$, so $a,b \in (0,1)$, and there are, therefore, decimal expansions:
$$a = 0.x_1 x_2 x_3 \ldots \; b = 0.y_1 y_2 y_3 \ldots $$
Then we define
$$f(a,b) = 0. x_1 y_1 x_2 y_2 x_3 y_3 \ldots$$
It's possible that $a$ and $b$ have non-unique decimal expansions, but we will assume, without loss of generality, that these decimal positions terminate before constructing the output of $f$.

Let $(a,b), (c,d) \in (0,1) \times (0,1)$, where
\begin{align*}
a& = 0.a_1 a_2 a_3 \ldots \\
b& = 0.b_1 b_2 b_3 \ldots \\
c& = 0.c_1 c_2 c_3 \ldots \\
d& = 0.d_1 d_2 d_3 \ldots
\end{align*}

we assume $f(a,b) = f(c,d)$. So
$$0.a_1 b_1 a_2 b_2 \ldots = 0.c_1 d_1 c_2 d_2 \ldots$$
So $a_1 = c_1$, $b_1 = d_1$, etc. so $a = b$ and $c = d$, so $(a,b) = (c,d)$.

Have I missed anything that would make this argument rigorous?

Best Answer

I think it is enough to say that you do not allow an infinite string of nines in the expansion of $a$ and $b$. In other words, you can say that if $a$ has two decimal expansions, you define $x_i$ to be the decimal values of the expansion which "terminates", i.e. it becomes $0$ from some point on.

This in turn also means that there are no infinite strings of nines in the construction of $f(a,b)$, which can easily be proven.

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