In set theory, a regular cardinal is a cardinal number that is equal to its own cofinality. More explicitly, this means that is a regular cardinal if and only if every unbounded subset has cardinality . Infinite well-ordered cardinals that are not regular are called singular cardinals. Finite cardinal numbers are typically not called regular or singular.
The fixed-point lemma for normal functions is a basic result in axiomatic set theory stating that any normal function has arbitrarily large fixed points. It was first proved by Oswald Veblen in 1908.
In the mathematical field of set theory, ordinal arithmetic describes the three usual operations on ordinal numbers: addition, multiplication, and exponentiation. Each can be defined in essentially two different ways: either by constructing an explicit well-ordered set that represents the result of the operation or by using transfinite recursion. Cantor normal form provides a standardized way of writing ordinals. In addition to these usual ordinal operations, there are also the "natural" arithmetic of ordinals and the nimber operations.
In model theory, a branch of mathematical logic, the spectrum of a theory is given by the number of isomorphism classes of models in various cardinalities. More precisely, for any complete theory T in a language we write I(T, κ) for the number of models of T (up to isomorphism) of cardinality κ. The spectrum problem is to describe the possible behaviors of I(T, κ) as a function of κ. It has been almost completely solved for the case of a countable theory T.
In mathematics, the epsilon numbers are a collection of transfinite numbers whose defining property is that they are fixed points of an exponential map. Consequently, they are not reachable from 0 via a finite series of applications of the chosen exponential map and of "weaker" operations like addition and multiplication. The original epsilon numbers were introduced by Georg Cantor in the context of ordinal arithmetic; they are the ordinal numbers ε that satisfy the equation
In the mathematical discipline of set theory, there are many ways of describing specific countable ordinals. The smallest ones can be usefully and non-circularly expressed in terms of their Cantor normal forms. Beyond that, many ordinals of relevance to proof theory still have computable ordinal notations. However, it is not possible to decide effectively whether a given putative ordinal notation is a notation or not ; various more-concrete ways of defining ordinals that definitely have notations are available.
In mathematical logic and set theory, an ordinal notation is a partial function mapping the set of all finite sequences of symbols, themselves members of a finite alphabet, to a countable set of ordinals. A Gödel numbering is a function mapping the set of well-formed formulae of some formal language to the natural numbers. This associates each well-formed formula with a unique natural number, called its Gödel number. If a Gödel numbering is fixed, then the subset relation on the ordinals induces an ordering on well-formed formulae which in turn induces a well-ordering on the subset of natural numbers. A recursive ordinal notation must satisfy the following two additional properties:
- the subset of natural numbers is a recursive set
- the induced well-ordering on the subset of natural numbers is a recursive relation
In proof theory, ordinal analysis assigns ordinals to mathematical theories as a measure of their strength. If theories have the same proof-theoretic ordinal they are often equiconsistent, and if one theory has a larger proof-theoretic ordinal than another it can often prove the consistency of the second theory.
In mathematics, particularly set theory, non-recursive ordinals are large countable ordinals greater than all the recursive ordinals, and therefore can not be expressed using recursive ordinal notations.
In mathematics, the Feferman–Schütte ordinal (Γ0) is a large countable ordinal. It is the proof-theoretic ordinal of several mathematical theories, such as arithmetical transfinite recursion. It is named after Solomon Feferman and Kurt Schütte, the former of whom suggested the name Γ0.
In mathematics, the large Veblen ordinal is a certain large countable ordinal, named after Oswald Veblen.
In mathematics, the Veblen functions are a hierarchy of normal functions, introduced by Oswald Veblen in Veblen (1908). If φ0 is any normal function, then for any non-zero ordinal α, φα is the function enumerating the common fixed points of φβ for β<α. These functions are all normal.
In mathematics, the Ackermann ordinal is a certain large countable ordinal, named after Wilhelm Ackermann. The term "Ackermann ordinal" is also occasionally used for the small Veblen ordinal, a somewhat larger ordinal.
In mathematical logic and set theory, an ordinal collapsing function is a technique for defining certain recursive large countable ordinals, whose principle is to give names to certain ordinals much larger than the one being defined, perhaps even large cardinals, and then "collapse" them down to a system of notations for the sought-after ordinal. For this reason, ordinal collapsing functions are described as an impredicative manner of naming ordinals.
In mathematics, ψ0(Ωω), widely known as Buchholz's ordinal, is a large countable ordinal that is used to measure the proof-theoretic strength of some mathematical systems. In particular, it is the proof theoretic ordinal of the subsystem -CA0 of second-order arithmetic; this is one of the "big five" subsystems studied in reverse mathematics (Simpson 1999). It is also the proof-theoretic ordinal of , the theory of finitely iterated inductive definitions, and of , a fragment of Kripke-Platek set theory extended by an axiom stating every set is contained in an admissible set. Buchholz's ordinal is also the order type of the segment bounded by in Buchholz's ordinal notation . Lastly, it can be expressed as the limit of the sequence: , , , ...
In computability theory, computational complexity theory and proof theory, a fast-growing hierarchy is an ordinal-indexed family of rapidly increasing functions fα: N → N. A primary example is the Wainer hierarchy, or Löb–Wainer hierarchy, which is an extension to all α < ε0. Such hierarchies provide a natural way to classify computable functions according to rate-of-growth and computational complexity.
In set theory, an ordinal number, or ordinal, is a generalization of ordinal numerals aimed to extend enumeration to infinite sets.
Buchholz's psi-functions are a hierarchy of single-argument ordinal functions introduced by German mathematician Wilfried Buchholz in 1986. These functions are a simplified version of the -functions, but nevertheless have the same strength as those. Later on this approach was extended by Jäger and Schütte.
In the mathematical fields of set theory and proof theory, the Takeuti–Feferman–Buchholz ordinal (TFBO) is a large countable ordinal, which acts as the limit of the range of Buchholz's psi function and Feferman's theta function. It was named by David Madore, after Gaisi Takeuti, Solomon Feferman and Wilfried Buchholz. It is written as using Buchholz's psi function, an ordinal collapsing function invented by Wilfried Buchholz, and in Feferman's theta function, an ordinal collapsing function invented by Solomon Feferman. It is the proof-theoretic ordinal of several formal theories:
In mathematics, Rathjen's psi function is an ordinal collapsing function developed by Michael Rathjen. It collapses weakly Mahlo cardinals to generate large countable ordinals. A weakly Mahlo cardinal is a cardinal such that the set of regular cardinals below is closed under . Rathjen uses this to diagonalise over the weakly inaccessible hierarchy.
