mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

, a cocountable

subset In mathematics, Set (mathematics), set ''A'' is a subset of a set ''B'' if all Element (mathematics), elements of ''A'' are also elements of ''B''; ''B'' is then a superset of ''A''. It is possible for ''A'' and ''B'' to be equal; if they are ...

of a set ''X'' is a subset ''Y'' whose

complement A complement is something that completes something else. Complement may refer specifically to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-clas ...

in ''X'' is a

countable set In mathematics, a set is countable if either it is finite or it can be made in one to one correspondence with the set of natural numbers. Equivalently, a set is ''countable'' if there exists an injective function from it into the natural numbers; ...

. In other words, ''Y'' contains all but countably many elements of ''X''. Since the rational numbers are a countable subset of the reals, for example, the irrational numbers are a cocountable subset of the reals. If the complement is finite, then one says ''Y'' is

cofinite In mathematics, a cofinite subset of a set X is a subset A whose complement in X is a finite set. In other words, A contains all but finitely many elements of X. If the complement is not finite, but it is countable, then one says the set is coco ...

σ-algebras

The set of all subsets of ''X'' that are either countable or cocountable forms a

σ-algebra In mathematical analysis and in probability theory, a σ-algebra (also σ-field) on a set ''X'' is a collection Σ of subsets of ''X'' that includes the empty subset, is closed under complement, and is closed under countable unions and countabl ...

, i.e., it is closed under the operations of countable unions, countable intersections, and complementation. This σ-algebra is the countable-cocountable algebra on ''X''. It is the smallest σ-algebra containing every

singleton set In mathematics, a singleton, also known as a unit set or one-point set, is a set with exactly one element. For example, the set \ is a singleton whose single element is 0. Properties Within the framework of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, the ...

Topology

The

cocountable topology The cocountable topology or countable complement topology on any set ''X'' consists of the empty set and all cocountable subsets of ''X'', that is all sets whose complement in ''X'' is countable. It follows that the only closed subsets are ''X'' and ...

(also called the "countable complement topology") on any set ''X'' consists of the

empty set In mathematics, the empty set is the unique set having no elements; its size or cardinality (count of elements in a set) is zero. Some axiomatic set theories ensure that the empty set exists by including an axiom of empty set, while in other ...

and all cocountable subsets of ''X''. Basic concepts in infinite set theory {{settheory-stub