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is a finite set with five elements. The number of elements of a finite set is a natural number (possibly zero) and is called the cardinality (or the cardinal number) of the set. A set that is not a finite set is called an infinite set. For example, the set of all positive integers is infinite:
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.
For example, the sets = {,,} and = {,,} are the same size as they each contain 3 elements. Beginning in the late 19th century, this concept was generalized to infinite sets, which allows one to distinguish between different types of infinity, and to perform arithmetic on them.
This definition of "infinite set" should be compared with the usual definition: a set A is infinite when it cannot be put in bijection with a finite ordinal, namely a set of the form {0, 1, 2, ..., n−1} for some natural number n – an infinite set is one that is literally "not finite", in the sense of bijection.
Two sets have the same cardinality if, and only if, there is a one-to-one correspondence (bijection) between the elements of the two sets. In the case of finite sets, this agrees with the intuitive notion of number of elements. In the case of infinite sets, the behavior is more complex.
the set of all binary strings of finite length, and; the set of all finite subsets of any given countably infinite set. These infinite ordinals: ω, ω + 1, ω⋅2, ω 2 are among the countably infinite sets. [6] For example, the sequence (with ordinality ω⋅2) of all positive odd integers followed by all positive even integers
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. [a] 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 ...
Infinite sets are so common, that when one considers finite sets, this is generally explicitly stated; for example finite geometry, finite field, etc. Fermat's Last Theorem is a theorem that was stated in terms of elementary arithmetic , which has been proved only more than 350 years later.