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Generic Filter
In the mathematical field of set theory, a generic filter is a kind of object used in the theory of forcing, a technique used for many purposes, but especially to establish the independence of certain propositions from certain formal theories, such as ZFC. For example, Paul Cohen used forcing to establish that ZFC, if consistent, cannot prove the continuum hypothesis, which states that there are exactly aleph-one real numbers. In the contemporary re-interpretation of Cohen's proof, it proceeds by constructing a generic filter that codes more than \aleph_1 reals, without changing the value of \aleph_1. Formally, let ''P'' be a partially ordered set, and let ''F'' be a filter on ''P''; that is, ''F'' is a subset of ''P'' such that: #''F'' is nonempty #If ''p'', ''q'' ∈ ''P'' and ''p'' ≤ ''q'' and ''p'' is an element of ''F'', then ''q'' is an element of ''F'' (''F'' is closed upward) #If ''p'' and ''q'' are elements of ''F'', then there is an eleme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Set Theory
Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies sets, which can be informally described as collections of objects. Although objects of any kind can be collected into a set, set theory, as a branch of mathematics, is mostly concerned with those that are relevant to mathematics as a whole. The modern study of set theory was initiated by the German mathematicians Richard Dedekind and Georg Cantor in the 1870s. In particular, Georg Cantor is commonly considered the founder of set theory. The non-formalized systems investigated during this early stage go under the name of '' naive set theory''. After the discovery of paradoxes within naive set theory (such as Russell's paradox, Cantor's paradox and the Burali-Forti paradox) various axiomatic systems were proposed in the early twentieth century, of which Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory (with or without the axiom of choice) is still the best-known and most studied. Set theory is commonly employed as a foundational ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forcing (mathematics)
In the mathematical discipline of set theory, forcing is a technique for proving consistency and independence results. It was first used by Paul Cohen in 1963, to prove the independence of the axiom of choice and the continuum hypothesis from Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory. Forcing has been considerably reworked and simplified in the following years, and has since served as a powerful technique, both in set theory and in areas of mathematical logic such as recursion theory. Descriptive set theory uses the notions of forcing from both recursion theory and set theory. Forcing has also been used in model theory, but it is common in model theory to define genericity directly without mention of forcing. Intuition Intuitively, forcing consists of expanding the set theoretical universe V to a larger universe V^ . In this bigger universe, for example, one might have many new real numbers, identified with subsets of the set \mathbb of natural numbers, that were not there in the ol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Independence (mathematical Logic)
In mathematical logic, independence is the unprovability of a sentence from other sentences. A sentence σ is independent of a given first-order theory ''T'' if ''T'' neither proves nor refutes σ; that is, it is impossible to prove σ from ''T'', and it is also impossible to prove from ''T'' that σ is false. Sometimes, σ is said (synonymously) to be undecidable from ''T''; this is not the same meaning of " decidability" as in a decision problem. A theory ''T'' is independent if each axiom in ''T'' is not provable from the remaining axioms in ''T''. A theory for which there is an independent set of axioms is independently axiomatizable. Usage note Some authors say that σ is independent of ''T'' when ''T'' simply cannot prove σ, and do not necessarily assert by this that ''T'' cannot refute σ. These authors will sometimes say "σ is independent of and consistent with ''T''" to indicate that ''T'' can neither prove nor refute σ. Independence results in set theory Many inte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Cohen (mathematician)
Paul Joseph Cohen (April 2, 1934 – March 23, 2007) was an American mathematician. He is best known for his proofs that the continuum hypothesis and the axiom of choice are independent from Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, for which he was awarded a Fields Medal. Early life and education Cohen was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, into a Jewish family that had immigrated to the United States from what is now Poland; he grew up in Brooklyn.. He graduated in 1950, at age 16, from Stuyvesant High School in New York City. Cohen next studied at the Brooklyn College from 1950 to 1953, but he left without earning his bachelor's degree when he learned that he could start his graduate studies at the University of Chicago with just two years of college. At Chicago, Cohen completed his master's degree in mathematics in 1954 and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1958, under supervision of Antoni Zygmund. The title of his doctoral thesis was ''Topics in the Theory of Uniqueness of Trigon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Continuum Hypothesis
In mathematics, the continuum hypothesis (abbreviated CH) is a hypothesis about the possible sizes of infinite sets. It states that or equivalently, that In Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory with the axiom of choice (ZFC), this is equivalent to the following equation in aleph numbers: 2^=\aleph_1, or even shorter with beth numbers: \beth_1 = \aleph_1. The continuum hypothesis was advanced by Georg Cantor in 1878, and establishing its truth or falsehood is the first of Hilbert's 23 problems presented in 1900. The answer to this problem is independent of ZFC, so that either the continuum hypothesis or its negation can be added as an axiom to ZFC set theory, with the resulting theory being consistent if and only if ZFC is consistent. This independence was proved in 1963 by Paul Cohen, complementing earlier work by Kurt Gödel in 1940. The name of the hypothesis comes from the term '' the continuum'' for the real numbers. History Cantor believed the continuum hypothesis t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aleph-one
In mathematics, particularly in set theory, the aleph numbers are a sequence of numbers used to represent the cardinality (or size) of infinite sets that can be well-ordered. They were introduced by the mathematician Georg Cantor and are named after the symbol he used to denote them, the Hebrew letter aleph (\,\aleph\,). The cardinality of the natural numbers is \,\aleph_0\, (read ''aleph-nought'' or ''aleph-zero''; the term ''aleph-null'' is also sometimes used), the next larger cardinality of a well-orderable set is aleph-one \,\aleph_1\;, then \,\aleph_2\, and so on. Continuing in this manner, it is possible to define a cardinal number \,\aleph_\alpha\, for every ordinal number \,\alpha\;, as described below. The concept and notation are due to Georg Cantor, who defined the notion of cardinality and realized that infinite sets can have different cardinalities. The aleph numbers differ from the infinity (\,\infty\,) commonly found in algebra and calculus, in that the ale ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Real Number
In mathematics, a real number is a number that can be used to measure a ''continuous'' one-dimensional quantity such as a distance, duration or temperature. Here, ''continuous'' means that values can have arbitrarily small variations. Every real number can be almost uniquely represented by an infinite decimal expansion. The real numbers are fundamental in calculus (and more generally in all mathematics), in particular by their role in the classical definitions of limits, continuity and derivatives. The set of real numbers is denoted or \mathbb and is sometimes called "the reals". The adjective ''real'' in this context was introduced in the 17th century by René Descartes to distinguish real numbers, associated with physical reality, from imaginary numbers (such as the square roots of ), which seemed like a theoretical contrivance unrelated to physical reality. The real numbers include the rational numbers, such as the integer and the fraction . The rest of the real ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Partially Ordered Set
In mathematics, especially order theory, a partially ordered set (also poset) formalizes and generalizes the intuitive concept of an ordering, sequencing, or arrangement of the elements of a set. A poset consists of a set together with a binary relation indicating that, for certain pairs of elements in the set, one of the elements precedes the other in the ordering. The relation itself is called a "partial order." The word ''partial'' in the names "partial order" and "partially ordered set" is used as an indication that not every pair of elements needs to be comparable. That is, there may be pairs of elements for which neither element precedes the other in the poset. Partial orders thus generalize total orders, in which every pair is comparable. Informal definition A partial order defines a notion of comparison. Two elements ''x'' and ''y'' may stand in any of four mutually exclusive relationships to each other: either ''x'' ''y'', or ''x'' and ''y'' are ''inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Filter (mathematics)
In mathematics, a filter or order filter is a special subset of a partially ordered set (poset). Filters appear in order and lattice theory, but can also be found in topology, from which they originate. The dual notion of a filter is an order ideal. Filters on sets were introduced by Henri Cartan in 1937 and as described in the article dedicated to filters in topology, they were subsequently used by Nicolas Bourbaki in their book ''Topologie Générale'' as an alternative to the related notion of a net developed in 1922 by E. H. Moore and Herman L. Smith. Order filters are generalizations of this notion from sets to the more general setting of partially ordered sets. For information on order filters in the special case where the poset consists of the power set ordered by set inclusion, see the article Filter (set theory). Motivation 1. Intuitively, a filter in a partially ordered set (), P, is a subset of P that includes as members those elements that are large enough ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Upper Set
In mathematics, an upper set (also called an upward closed set, an upset, or an isotone set in ''X'') of a partially ordered set (X, \leq) is a subset S \subseteq X with the following property: if ''s'' is in ''S'' and if ''x'' in ''X'' is larger than ''s'' (that is, if s \leq x), then ''x'' is in ''S''. In words, this means that any ''x'' element of ''X'' that is \,\geq\, to some element of ''S'' is necessarily also an element of ''S''. The term lower set (also called a downward closed set, down set, decreasing set, initial segment, or semi-ideal) is defined similarly as being a subset ''S'' of ''X'' with the property that any element ''x'' of ''X'' that is \,\leq\, to some element of ''S'' is necessarily also an element of ''S''. Definition Let (X, \leq) be a preordered set. An in X (also called an , an , or an set) is a subset U \subseteq X that is "closed under going up", in the sense that :for all u \in U and all x \in X, if u \leq x then x \in U. The dual notion is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Directed Set
In mathematics, a directed set (or a directed preorder or a filtered set) is a nonempty set A together with a reflexive and transitive binary relation \,\leq\, (that is, a preorder), with the additional property that every pair of elements has an upper bound. In other words, for any a and b in A there must exist c in A with a \leq c and b \leq c. A directed set's preorder is called a . The notion defined above is sometimes called an . A is defined analogously, meaning that every pair of elements is bounded below. Some authors (and this article) assume that a directed set is directed upward, unless otherwise stated. Other authors call a set directed if and only if it is directed both upward and downward. Directed sets are a generalization of nonempty totally ordered sets. That is, all totally ordered sets are directed sets (contrast ordered sets, which need not be directed). Join-semilattices (which are partially ordered sets) are directed sets as well, but not conversel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dense Set
In topology and related areas of mathematics, a subset ''A'' of a topological space ''X'' is said to be dense in ''X'' if every point of ''X'' either belongs to ''A'' or else is arbitrarily "close" to a member of ''A'' — for instance, the rational numbers are a dense subset of the real numbers because every real number either is a rational number or has a rational number arbitrarily close to it (see Diophantine approximation). Formally, A is dense in X if the smallest closed subset of X containing A is X itself. The of a topological space X is the least cardinality of a dense subset of X. Definition A subset A of a topological space X is said to be a of X if any of the following equivalent conditions are satisfied: The smallest closed subset of X containing A is X itself. The closure of A in X is equal to X. That is, \operatorname_X A = X. The interior of the complement of A is empty. That is, \operatorname_X (X \setminus A) = \varnothing. Every point in X either be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
