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Cantor defined cardinality in terms of bijective functions: two sets have the same cardinality if, and only if, there exists a bijective function between them. Between any two real numbers a < b , no matter how close they are to each other, there are always infinitely many other real numbers, and Cantor showed that they are as many as those ...
The cardinality of the continuum is the size of the set of real numbers. The continuum hypothesis is sometimes stated by saying that no cardinality lies between that of the continuum and that of the natural numbers , ℵ 0 {\displaystyle \aleph _{0}} , or alternatively, that c = ℵ 1 {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}=\aleph _{1}} .
The new cardinal number of the set of real numbers is called the cardinality of the continuum and Cantor used the symbol for it. Cantor also developed a large portion of the general theory of cardinal numbers; he proved that there is a smallest transfinite cardinal number ( ℵ 0 {\displaystyle \aleph _{0}} , aleph-null), and that for every ...
The continuum hypothesis posits that the cardinality of the set of the real numbers is ; i.e. the smallest infinite cardinal number after , the cardinality of the integers. Paul Cohen proved in 1963 that it is an axiom independent of the other axioms of set theory; that is: one may choose either the continuum hypothesis or its negation as an ...
As is standard in set theory, we denote by the least infinite ordinal, which has cardinality ; it may be identified with the set of natural numbers.. A number of cardinal characteristics naturally arise as cardinal invariants for ideals which are closely connected with the structure of the reals, such as the ideal of Lebesgue null sets and the ideal of meagre sets.
When two sets, and , have the same cardinality, it is usually written as | | = | |; however, if referring to the cardinal number of an individual set , it is simply denoted | |, with a vertical bar on each side; [3] this is the same notation as absolute value, and the meaning depends on context.
As a consequence, the cardinality of the real numbers, which is the same as that of the power set of the integers, is strictly larger than the cardinality of the integers; see Cardinality of the continuum for details. The theorem is named for Georg Cantor, who first stated and proved it at the end of the 19th century.
A mathematical symbol is a figure or a combination of figures that is used to represent a mathematical object, an action on mathematical objects, a relation between mathematical objects, or for structuring the other symbols that occur in a formula. As formulas are entirely constituted with symbols of various types, many symbols are needed for ...