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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.
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.
Set theory is the branch of mathematics that studies sets, which are collections of objects, such as {blue, white, red} or the (infinite) set of all prime numbers. Partially ordered sets and sets with other relations have applications in several areas. In discrete mathematics, countable sets (including finite sets) are the main focus
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:
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.
In her book The Philosophy of Set Theory, Mary Tiles characterized those who allow potentially infinite objects as classical finitists, and those who do not allow potentially infinite objects as strict finitists: for example, a classical finitist would allow statements such as "every natural number has a successor" and would accept the meaningfulness of infinite series in the sense of limits ...
Any set can be given the cofinite topology in which the open sets are the empty set and the sets whose complement is finite. This is the smallest T 1 topology on any infinite set. Any set can be given the cocountable topology, in which a set is defined as open if it is either empty or its complement is countable. When the set is uncountable ...
Just as for finite sets, the theory makes further definitions which allow us to consistently compare two infinite sets as regards whether one set is "larger than", "smaller than", or "the same size as" the other. But not every intuition regarding the size of finite sets applies to the size of infinite sets, leading to various apparently ...