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It might be a silly question but I can't find how to prove this.

I assume this has a proof per axiomatic system but I am looking for proof which is most standard, using the most common axiomatic system.

e.g. when proving $\mathbb{R}_{+}$ is a group with multiplication, we usually just state it is closed without prooving.

To be more specific, how to prove it using ZFC?

Aladin
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1 Answers1

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Suppose the reals are defined as the metric completion of $\mathbb Q$, using Cauchy sequences. They inherit an ordering from $\mathbb Q$ and it suffices to prove that $\mathbb Q_+ \cdot \mathbb Q_+ \subset \mathbb Q_+$.

Now $\mathbb Q$ is defined as the fraction field of $\mathbb Z$. An explicit construction is as pairs $(a, b) \in \mathbb Z \times (\mathbb Z - \{0\})$ modulo the equivalence relation of being proportional by a nonzero integer. The multiplication is entrywise, and it is not hard to define $\mathbb Q_+$ once you have defined $\mathbb Z_+$, and to reduce the question to proving that $\mathbb Z_+ \cdot \mathbb Z_+ \subset \mathbb Z_+$.

Now $\mathbb Z$ is constructed out of $\mathbb N$ and (practically by definition) $\mathbb Z _+ = \mathbb N$, and $\mathbb Z_+ \cdot \mathbb Z_+ \subset \mathbb Z_+$ is then true because the multiplication on $\mathbb Z_+$ is the same as the one on $\mathbb N$.

Bart Michels
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