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The number of elements of the empty set (i.e., its cardinality) is zero. The empty set is the only set with either of these properties. For any set A: The empty set is a subset of A; The union of A with the empty set is A; The intersection of A with the empty set is the empty set; The Cartesian product of A and the empty set is the empty set ...
An empty product is then given by the limit with respect to the empty category, which is the terminal object of the category if it exists. This definition specializes to give results as above. For example, in the category of sets the categorical product is the usual Cartesian product, and the terminal object is a singleton set.
An important special case is when the index set is , the natural numbers: this Cartesian product is the set of all infinite sequences with the i-th term in its corresponding set X i. For example, each element of ∏ n = 1 ∞ R = R × R × ⋯ {\displaystyle \prod _{n=1}^{\infty }\mathbb {R} =\mathbb {R} \times \mathbb {R} \times \cdots } can ...
The empty product on numbers and most algebraic structures has the value of 1 (the identity element of multiplication), just like the empty sum has the value of 0 (the identity element of addition). However, the concept of the empty product is more general, and requires special treatment in logic, set theory, computer programming and category ...
Axiom of empty set The empty set exists Axiom of extensionality or axiom of extent Axiom of finite choice Any product of non-empty finite sets is non-empty Axiom of foundation Same as axiom of regularity Axiom of global choice There is a global choice function Axiom of heredity (any member of a set is a set; used in Ackermann's system.)
A universe set is an absorbing element of binary union . The empty set is an absorbing element of binary intersection and binary Cartesian product , and it is also a left absorbing element of set subtraction :
The empty set is the unique initial object in Set, the category of sets. Every one-element set is a terminal object in this category; there are no zero objects. Similarly, the empty space is the unique initial object in Top, the category of topological spaces and every one-point space is a terminal object in this category.
Another example: An empty product (that is, is the empty set) is the same as a terminal object, and some categories, such as the category of infinite groups, do not have a terminal object: given any infinite group there are infinitely many morphisms , so cannot be terminal.