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For $\alpha,\beta\in \omega$ we set the absolute difference of $\alpha,\beta$ to be $$\lVert\alpha - \beta\rVert := |(\alpha\setminus\beta)\cup (\beta\setminus\alpha)|.$$ The absolute difference $\lVert g - h \lVert$ of two functions $g,h:\omega\to\omega$ is defined by $\lVert g - h \rVert (n) = \lVert(g(n) - h(n)\rVert$ for all $n\in \omega$.

Question. Are there bijections $\varphi_{1,2}:\omega\to\omega$ such that $\lVert \varphi_1 - \varphi_2\rVert$ is again a bijection?

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    $\begingroup$ Why do you view elements of $\omega$ as sets? It seems simpler to just consider them numbers and take the usual distance? $\endgroup$
    – Arno
    Commented Dec 28, 2022 at 17:07
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    $\begingroup$ What had you tried? The very first attempt to construct recursively such a pair of permutations (with the difference being the identity map) works without effort (I guess this is Gabriel's answer). $\endgroup$
    – YCor
    Commented Dec 28, 2022 at 22:53
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    $\begingroup$ yes, this is exactly what i did. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 29, 2022 at 3:05

1 Answer 1

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Define two sequences $a_n$ and $b_n$ as follows:

  1. $a_0=b_0=0 $
  2. $a_{2n+1}$ is the smallest positive integer not in $\{a_0,\ldots, a_{2n}\}$.
  3. $b_{2n+1}=a_{2n+1}+2n+1$
  4. $b_{2n}$ is the smallest positive integer not in $\{b_0,\ldots, b_{2n-1}\}$.
  5. $a_{2n}=b_{2n}+2n$.

Then by (2) the sequence $a$ viewed as a function from $\omega$ to $\omega$ is surjective, and likewise by (4) the sequence $b$ is surjective.

Also by (2) we have the inequalities $n \le a_{2n+1} \le 2n+1$ and by (4) we have the inequalities $n \le b_{2n} \le 2n$, so $b_{2n+1} \ge 3n+1 > b_{2n}$ and $a_{2n} \ge 3n \ge a_{2n-1}$. Furthermore both the even and odd subsequences of $a_n$ and $b_n$ are easily seen to be strictly increasing. Together this shows that $a$ and $b$ viewed as functions are injective.

So $a$ and $b$ are bijections and their difference is the identity function.

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