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Then, by the well-ordering principle, there is a least element ; cannot be prime since a prime number itself is considered a length-one product of primes. By the definition of non-prime numbers, n {\displaystyle n} has factors a , b {\displaystyle a,b} , where a , b {\displaystyle a,b} are integers greater than one and less than n ...
In second-order logic, however, the well-ordering theorem is strictly stronger than the axiom of choice: from the well-ordering theorem one may deduce the axiom of choice, but from the axiom of choice one cannot deduce the well-ordering theorem. [7] There is a well-known joke about the three statements, and their relative amenability to intuition:
In mathematics, a well-order (or well-ordering or well-order relation) on a set S is a total ordering on S with the property that every non-empty subset of S has a least element in this ordering. The set S together with the ordering is then called a well-ordered set (or woset ). [ 1 ]
It can then be proved that induction, given the above-listed axioms, implies the well-ordering principle. The following proof uses complete induction and the first and fourth axioms. Proof. Suppose there exists a non-empty set, S, of natural numbers that has no least element. Let P(n) be the assertion that n is not in S.
The statement that (N, <) is well-founded is also known as the well-ordering principle. There are other interesting special cases of well-founded induction. When the well-founded relation is the usual ordering on the class of all ordinal numbers, the technique is called transfinite induction.
The most important among them are Zorn's lemma and the well-ordering theorem. In fact, Zermelo initially introduced the axiom of choice in order to formalize his proof of the well-ordering theorem. Set theory. Tarski's theorem about choice: For every infinite set A, there is a bijective map between the sets A and A×A.
The following construction of the Vitali set shows one way that the axiom of choice can be used in a proof by transfinite induction: First, well-order the real numbers (this is where the axiom of choice enters via the well-ordering theorem), giving a sequence < , where β is an ordinal with the cardinality of the continuum.
Just as standard mathematical induction is equivalent to the well-ordering principle, structural induction is also equivalent to a well-ordering principle. If the set of all structures of a certain kind admits a well-founded partial order, then every nonempty subset must have a minimal element. (This is the definition of "well-founded".) The ...