Back-and-forth Method

In mathematical logic, especially set theory and model theory, the back-and-forth method is a method for showing isomorphism between countably infinite structures satisfying specified conditions. In particular:

• It can be used to prove that any two countably infinite densely ordered sets (i.e., linearly ordered in such a way that between any two members there is another) without endpoints are isomorphic. An isomorphism between linear orders is simply a strictly increasing bijection. This result implies, for example, that there exists a strictly increasing bijection between the set of all rational numbers and the set of all real algebraic numbers.

• It can be used to prove that any two countably infinite atomless Boolean algebras are isomorphic to each other.

• It can be used to prove that any two equivalent countable atomic models of a theory are isomorphic.

• It can be used to prove that the Erdős–Rényi model of random graphs, when applied to countably infinite graphs, always produces a unique graph, the Rado graph.