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In set theory, an infinite set is a set that is not a finite set. Infinite sets may be countable or uncountable. [1]
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2011) |
In set theory, an infinite set is a set that is not a finite set. Infinite sets may be countable or uncountable. [1]
The set of natural numbers (whose existence is postulated by the axiom of infinity) is infinite. [1] It is the only set that is directly required by the axioms to be infinite. The existence of any other infinite set can be proved in Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory (ZFC), but only by showing that it follows from the existence of the natural numbers.
A set is infinite if and only if for every natural number, the set has a subset whose cardinality is that natural number. [2]
If the axiom of choice holds, then a set is infinite if and only if it includes a countable infinite subset.
If a set of sets is infinite or contains an infinite element, then its union is infinite. The power set of an infinite set is infinite. [3] Any superset of an infinite set is infinite. If an infinite set is partitioned into finitely many subsets, then at least one of them must be infinite. Any set which can be mapped onto an infinite set is infinite. The Cartesian product of an infinite set and a nonempty set is infinite. The Cartesian product of an infinite number of sets, each containing at least two elements, is either empty or infinite; if the axiom of choice holds, then it is infinite.
If an infinite set is a well-ordered set, then it must have a nonempty, nontrivial subset that has no greatest element.
In ZF, a set is infinite if and only if the power set of its power set is a Dedekind-infinite set, having a proper subset equinumerous to itself. [4] If the axiom of choice is also true, then infinite sets are precisely the Dedekind-infinite sets.
If an infinite set is a well-orderable set, then it has many well-orderings which are non-isomorphic.
Important ideas discussed by David Burton in his book The History of Mathematics: An Introduction include how to define "elements" or parts of a set, how to define unique elements in the set, and how to prove infinity. [5] Burton also discusses proofs for different types of infinity, including countable and uncountable sets. [5] Topics used when comparing infinite and finite sets include ordered sets, cardinality, equivalency, coordinate planes, universal sets, mapping, subsets, continuity, and transcendence. [5] Cantor's set ideas were influenced by trigonometry and irrational numbers. Other key ideas in infinite set theory mentioned by Burton, Paula, Narli and Rodger include real numbers such as π, integers, and Euler's number. [5] [6] [7]
Both Burton and Rogers use finite sets to start to explain infinite sets using proof concepts such as mapping, proof by induction, or proof by contradiction. [5] [7] Mathematical trees can also be used to understand infinite sets. [8] Burton also discusses proofs of infinite sets including ideas such as unions and subsets. [5]
In Chapter 12 of The History of Mathematics: An Introduction, Burton emphasizes how mathematicians such as Zermelo, Dedekind, Galileo, Kronecker, Cantor, and Bolzano investigated and influenced infinite set theory. Many of these mathematicians either debated infinity or otherwise added to the ideas of infinite sets. Potential historical influences, such as how Prussia's history in the 1800s, resulted in an increase in scholarly mathematical knowledge, including Cantor's theory of infinite sets. [5]
One potential application of infinite set theory is in genetics and biology. [9]
The set of all integers, {..., -1, 0, 1, 2, ...} is a countably infinite set. The set of all even integers is also a countably infinite set, even if it is a proper subset of the integers. [3]
The set of all rational numbers is a countably infinite set as there is a bijection to the set of integers. [3]
The set of all real numbers is an uncountably infinite set. The set of all irrational numbers is also an uncountably infinite set. [3]
In mathematics, the axiom of choice, abbreviated AC or AoC, is an axiom of set theory equivalent to the statement that a Cartesian product of a collection of non-empty sets is non-empty. Informally put, the axiom of choice says that given any collection of sets, each containing at least one element, it is possible to construct a new set by choosing one element from each set, even if the collection is infinite. Formally, it states that for every indexed family of nonempty sets, there exists an indexed set such that for every . The axiom of choice was formulated in 1904 by Ernst Zermelo in order to formalize his proof of the well-ordering theorem.
In mathematics, a set is countable if either it is finite or it can be made in one to one correspondence with the set of natural numbers. Equivalently, a set is countable if there exists an injective function from it into the natural numbers; this means that each element in the set may be associated to a unique natural number, or that the elements of the set can be counted one at a time, although the counting may never finish due to an infinite number of elements.
In mathematics, particularly set theory, a finite set is a set that has a finite number of elements. Informally, a finite set is a set which one could in principle count and finish counting. For example,
Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor was a mathematician who played a pivotal role in the creation of set theory, which has become a fundamental theory in mathematics. Cantor established the importance of one-to-one correspondence between the members of two sets, defined infinite and well-ordered sets, and proved that the real numbers are more numerous than the natural numbers. Cantor's method of proof of this theorem implies the existence of an infinity of infinities. He defined the cardinal and ordinal numbers and their arithmetic. Cantor's work is of great philosophical interest, a fact he was well aware of.
Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory. Research in mathematical logic commonly addresses the mathematical properties of formal systems of logic such as their expressive or deductive power. However, it can also include uses of logic to characterize correct mathematical reasoning or to establish foundations of mathematics.
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 set theory, Cantor's diagonal argument, also called the diagonalisation argument, the diagonal slash argument, the anti-diagonal argument, the diagonal method, and Cantor's diagonalization proof, was published in 1891 by Georg Cantor as a mathematical proof that there are infinite sets which cannot be put into one-to-one correspondence with the infinite set of natural numbers. Such sets are now known as uncountable sets, and the size of infinite sets is now treated by the theory of cardinal numbers which Cantor began.
In mathematics, particularly in set theory, the aleph numbers are a sequence of numbers used to represent the cardinality of infinite sets that can be well-ordered. They were introduced by the mathematician Georg Cantor and are named after the symbol he used to denote them, the Hebrew letter aleph.
Zermelo set theory, as set out in a seminal paper in 1908 by Ernst Zermelo, is the ancestor of modern Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory (ZF) and its extensions, such as von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel set theory (NBG). It bears certain differences from its descendants, which are not always understood, and are frequently misquoted. This article sets out the original axioms, with the original text and original numbering.
In logic and mathematics, second-order logic is an extension of first-order logic, which itself is an extension of propositional logic. Second-order logic is in turn extended by higher-order logic and type theory.
In mathematical set theory, Cantor's theorem is a fundamental result which states that, for any set , the set of all subsets of known as the power set of has a strictly greater cardinality than itself.
In mathematics, two sets or classes A and B are equinumerous if there exists a one-to-one correspondence (or bijection) between them, that is, if there exists a function from A to B such that for every element y of B, there is exactly one element x of A with f(x) = y. Equinumerous sets are said to have the same cardinality (number of elements). The study of cardinality is often called equinumerosity (equalness-of-number). The terms equipollence (equalness-of-strength) and equipotence (equalness-of-power) are sometimes used instead.
In mathematics, a set A is Dedekind-infinite if some proper subset B of A is equinumerous to A. Explicitly, this means that there exists a bijective function from A onto some proper subset B of A. A set is Dedekind-finite if it is not Dedekind-infinite. Proposed by Dedekind in 1888, Dedekind-infiniteness was the first definition of "infinite" that did not rely on the definition of the natural numbers.
In mathematical logic and philosophy, Skolem's paradox is a seeming contradiction that arises from the downward Löwenheim–Skolem theorem. Thoralf Skolem (1922) was the first to discuss the seemingly contradictory aspects of the theorem, and to discover the relativity of set-theoretic notions now known as non-absoluteness. Although it is not an actual antinomy like Russell's paradox, the result is typically called a paradox and was described as a "paradoxical state of affairs" by Skolem.
In mathematical logic, the theory of infinite sets was first developed by Georg Cantor. Although this work has become a thoroughly standard fixture of classical set theory, it has been criticized in several areas by mathematicians and philosophers.
An approach to the foundations of mathematics that is of relatively recent origin, Scott–Potter set theory is a collection of nested axiomatic set theories set out by the philosopher Michael Potter, building on earlier work by the mathematician Dana Scott and the philosopher George Boolos.
This article contains a discussion of paradoxes of set theory. As with most mathematical paradoxes, they generally reveal surprising and counter-intuitive mathematical results, rather than actual logical contradictions within modern axiomatic set theory.
Cantor's first set theory article contains Georg Cantor's first theorems of transfinite set theory, which studies infinite sets and their properties. One of these theorems is his "revolutionary discovery" that the set of all real numbers is uncountably, rather than countably, infinite. This theorem is proved using Cantor's first uncountability proof, which differs from the more familiar proof using his diagonal argument. The title of the article, "On a Property of the Collection of All Real Algebraic Numbers", refers to its first theorem: the set of real algebraic numbers is countable. Cantor's article was published in 1874. In 1879, he modified his uncountability proof by using the topological notion of a set being dense in an interval.
In order theory and model theory, branches of mathematics, Cantor's isomorphism theorem states that every two countable dense unbounded linear orders are order-isomorphic. For instance, Minkowski's question-mark function produces an isomorphism between the numerical ordering of the rational numbers and the numerical ordering of the dyadic rationals.
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