In mathematics, a cardinal number, or cardinal for short, is what is commonly called the number of elements of a set. In the case of a finite set, its cardinal number, or cardinality is therefore a natural number. For dealing with the case of infinite sets, the infinite cardinal numbers have been introduced, which are often denoted with the Hebrew letter (aleph) marked with subscript indicating their rank among the infinite cardinals.
In mathematics, a topological space is called separable if it contains a countable, dense subset; that is, there exists a sequence of elements of the space such that every nonempty open subset of the space contains at least one element of the sequence.
In mathematics, an uncountable set, informally, is an infinite set that contains too many elements to be countable. The uncountability of a set is closely related to its cardinal number: a set is uncountable if its cardinal number is larger than aleph-null, the cardinality of the natural numbers.
In mathematics, a Borel set is any set in a topological space that can be formed from open sets through the operations of countable union, countable intersection, and relative complement. Borel sets are named after Émile Borel.
In the mathematical discipline of set theory, forcing is a technique for proving consistency and independence results. Intuitively, forcing can be thought of as a technique to expand the set theoretical universe to a larger universe by introducing a new "generic" object .
In mathematics, Suslin's problem is a question about totally ordered sets posed by Mikhail Yakovlevich Suslin and published posthumously. It has been shown to be independent of the standard axiomatic system of set theory known as ZFC; Solovay & Tennenbaum (1971) showed that the statement can neither be proven nor disproven from those axioms, assuming ZF is consistent.
In mathematics, a Lindelöf space is a topological space in which every open cover has a countable subcover. The Lindelöf property is a weakening of the more commonly used notion of compactness, which requires the existence of a finite subcover.
In mathematics, a Cantor space, named for Georg Cantor, is a topological abstraction of the classical Cantor set: a topological space is a Cantor space if it is homeomorphic to the Cantor set. In set theory, the topological space 2ω is called "the" Cantor space.
In topology and related areas of mathematics, a topological property or topological invariant is a property of a topological space that is invariant under homeomorphisms. Alternatively, a topological property is a proper class of topological spaces which is closed under homeomorphisms. That is, a property of spaces is a topological property if whenever a space X possesses that property every space homeomorphic to X possesses that property. Informally, a topological property is a property of the space that can be expressed using open sets.
In the mathematical field of set theory, Martin's axiom, introduced by Donald A. Martin and Robert M. Solovay, is a statement that is independent of the usual axioms of ZFC set theory. It is implied by the continuum hypothesis, but it is consistent with ZFC and the negation of the continuum hypothesis. Informally, it says that all cardinals less than the cardinality of the continuum, 𝔠, behave roughly like ℵ0. The intuition behind this can be understood by studying the proof of the Rasiowa–Sikorski lemma. It is a principle that is used to control certain forcing arguments.
In mathematics, a complete Boolean algebra is a Boolean algebra in which every subset has a supremum. Complete Boolean algebras are used to construct Boolean-valued models of set theory in the theory of forcing. Every Boolean algebra A has an essentially unique completion, which is a complete Boolean algebra containing A such that every element is the supremum of some subset of A. As a partially ordered set, this completion of A is the Dedekind–MacNeille completion.
In mathematics, a free Boolean algebra is a Boolean algebra with a distinguished set of elements, called generators, such that:
- Each element of the Boolean algebra can be expressed as a finite combination of generators, using the Boolean operations, and
- The generators are as independent as possible, in the sense that there are no relationships among them that do not hold in every Boolean algebra no matter which elements are chosen.
In mathematics, set-theoretic topology is a subject that combines set theory and general topology. It focuses on topological questions that are independent of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory (ZFC).
Mikhail Yakovlevich Suslin was a Russian mathematician who made major contributions to the fields of general topology and descriptive set theory.
In the mathematical field of set theory, the proper forcing axiom (PFA) is a significant strengthening of Martin's axiom, where forcings with the countable chain condition (ccc) are replaced by proper forcings.
In mathematics, a cardinal function is a function that returns cardinal numbers.
In the mathematical theory of infinite graphs, the Erdős–Dushnik–Miller theorem is a form of Ramsey's theorem stating that every infinite graph contains either a countably infinite independent set, or a clique with the same cardinality as the whole graph.
This is a glossary of terms and definitions related to the topic of set theory.
