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Continuity (set Theory)
In set theory, a continuous function is a sequence of ordinals such that the values assumed at limit stages are the limits ( limit suprema and limit infima) of all values at previous stages. More formally, let ''γ'' be an ordinal, and s := \langle s_, \alpha < \gamma\rangle be a ''γ''-sequence of ordinals. Then ''s'' is continuous if at every limit ordinal ''β'' < ''γ'', : and : Alternatively, if ''s'' is an then ''s'' is continuous if ''s'': ''γ'' → range(''s'') is a when the sets are each equipped with the |
Set Theory
Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies Set (mathematics), 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 of set theory, 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 the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sequence
In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is called the ''length'' of the sequence. Unlike a set, the same elements can appear multiple times at different positions in a sequence, and unlike a set, the order does matter. Formally, a sequence can be defined as a function from natural numbers (the positions of elements in the sequence) to the elements at each position. The notion of a sequence can be generalized to an indexed family, defined as a function from an ''arbitrary'' index set. For example, (M, A, R, Y) is a sequence of letters with the letter "M" first and "Y" last. This sequence differs from (A, R, M, Y). Also, the sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8), which contains the number 1 at two different positions, is a valid sequence. Sequences can be '' finite'', as in these examples, or '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ordinal Number
In set theory, an ordinal number, or ordinal, is a generalization of ordinal numerals (first, second, th, etc.) aimed to extend enumeration to infinite sets. A finite set can be enumerated by successively labeling each element with the least natural number that has not been previously used. To extend this process to various infinite sets, ordinal numbers are defined more generally using linearly ordered greek letter variables that include the natural numbers and have the property that every set of ordinals has a least or "smallest" element (this is needed for giving a meaning to "the least unused element"). This more general definition allows us to define an ordinal number \omega (omega) to be the least element that is greater than every natural number, along with ordinal numbers , , etc., which are even greater than . A linear order such that every non-empty subset has a least element is called a well-order. The axiom of choice implies that every set can be well-orde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limit Ordinal
In set theory, a limit ordinal is an ordinal number that is neither zero nor a successor ordinal. Alternatively, an ordinal λ is a limit ordinal if there is an ordinal less than λ, and whenever β is an ordinal less than λ, then there exists an ordinal γ such that β 0, are limits of limits, etc. Properties The classes of successor ordinals and limit ordinals (of various cofinalities) as well as zero exhaust the entire class of ordinals, so these cases are often used in proofs by transfinite induction or definitions by transfinite recursion. Limit ordinals represent a sort of "turning point" in such procedures, in which one must use limiting operations such as taking the union over all preceding ordinals. In principle, one could do anything at limit ordinals, but taking the union is continuous in the order topology and this is usually desirable. If we use the von Neumann cardinal assignment, every infinite cardinal number In mathematics, a cardinal number, or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limit Superior And Limit Inferior
In mathematics, the limit inferior and limit superior of a sequence can be thought of as limiting (that is, eventual and extreme) bounds on the sequence. They can be thought of in a similar fashion for a function (see limit of a function). For a set, they are the infimum and supremum of the set's limit points, respectively. In general, when there are multiple objects around which a sequence, function, or set accumulates, the inferior and superior limits extract the smallest and largest of them; the type of object and the measure of size is context-dependent, but the notion of extreme limits is invariant. Limit inferior is also called infimum limit, limit infimum, liminf, inferior limit, lower limit, or inner limit; limit superior is also known as supremum limit, limit supremum, limsup, superior limit, upper limit, or outer limit. The limit inferior of a sequence (x_n) is denoted by \liminf_x_n\quad\text\quad \varliminf_x_n, and the limit superior of a sequence (x_n) is denote ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Increasing Function
In mathematics, a monotonic function (or monotone function) is a function between ordered sets that preserves or reverses the given order. This concept first arose in calculus, and was later generalized to the more abstract setting of order theory. In calculus and analysis In calculus, a function f defined on a subset of the real numbers with real values is called ''monotonic'' if it is either entirely non-decreasing, or entirely non-increasing. That is, as per Fig. 1, a function that increases monotonically does not exclusively have to increase, it simply must not decrease. A function is termed ''monotonically increasing'' (also ''increasing'' or ''non-decreasing'') if for all x and y such that x \leq y one has f\!\left(x\right) \leq f\!\left(y\right), so f preserves the order (see Figure 1). Likewise, a function is called ''monotonically decreasing'' (also ''decreasing'' or ''non-increasing'') if, whenever x \leq y, then f\!\left(x\right) \geq f\!\left(y\right), so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Continuous (topology)
In mathematics, a continuous function is a function such that a small variation of the argument induces a small variation of the value of the function. This implies there are no abrupt changes in value, known as '' discontinuities''. More precisely, a function is continuous if arbitrarily small changes in its value can be assured by restricting to sufficiently small changes of its argument. A discontinuous function is a function that is . Until the 19th century, mathematicians largely relied on intuitive notions of continuity and considered only continuous functions. The epsilon–delta definition of a limit was introduced to formalize the definition of continuity. Continuity is one of the core concepts of calculus and mathematical analysis, where arguments and values of functions are real and complex numbers. The concept has been generalized to functions between metric spaces and between topological spaces. The latter are the most general continuous functions, and their de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Order Topology
In mathematics, an order topology is a specific topology that can be defined on any totally ordered set. It is a natural generalization of the topology of the real numbers to arbitrary totally ordered sets. If ''X'' is a totally ordered set, the order topology on ''X'' is generated by the subbase of "open rays" :\ :\ for all ''a, b'' in ''X''. Provided ''X'' has at least two elements, this is equivalent to saying that the open intervals :(a,b) = \ together with the above rays form a base for the order topology. The open sets in ''X'' are the sets that are a union of (possibly infinitely many) such open intervals and rays. A topological space ''X'' is called orderable or linearly orderable if there exists a total order on its elements such that the order topology induced by that order and the given topology on ''X'' coincide. The order topology makes ''X'' into a completely normal Hausdorff space. The standard topologies on R, Q, Z, and N are the order topologies. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cofinality
In mathematics, especially in order theory, the cofinality cf(''A'') of a partially ordered set ''A'' is the least of the cardinalities of the cofinal subsets of ''A''. Formally, :\operatorname(A) = \inf \ This definition of cofinality relies on the axiom of choice, as it uses the fact that every non-empty set of cardinal numbers has a least member. The cofinality of a partially ordered set ''A'' can alternatively be defined as the least ordinal ''x'' such that there is a function from ''x'' to ''A'' with cofinal image. This second definition makes sense without the axiom of choice. If the axiom of choice is assumed, as will be the case in the rest of this article, then the two definitions are equivalent. Cofinality can be similarly defined for a directed set and is used to generalize the notion of a subsequence in a net. Examples * The cofinality of a partially ordered set with greatest element is 1 as the set consisting only of the greatest element is cofinal (and must be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cardinal Numbers
In mathematics, a cardinal number, or cardinal for short, is what is commonly called the number of elements of a set. In the case of a finite set, its cardinal number, or cardinality is therefore a natural number. For dealing with the case of infinite sets, the infinite cardinal numbers have been introduced, which are often denoted with the Hebrew letter \aleph (aleph) marked with subscript indicating their rank among the infinite cardinals. Cardinality is defined in terms of bijective functions. Two sets have the same cardinality if, and only if, there is a one-to-one correspondence (bijection) between the elements of the two sets. In the case of finite sets, this agrees with the intuitive notion of number of elements. In the case of infinite sets, the behavior is more complex. A fundamental theorem due to Georg Cantor shows that it is possible for two infinite sets to have different cardinalities, and in particular the cardinality of the set of real numbers is greater ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Normal Function
In axiomatic set theory, a function is called normal (or a normal function) if it is continuous (with respect to the order topology) and strictly monotonically increasing. This is equivalent to the following two conditions: # For every limit ordinal (i.e. is neither zero nor a successor), it is the case that . # For all ordinals , it is the case that . Examples A simple normal function is given by (see ordinal arithmetic). But is ''not'' normal because it is not continuous at any limit ordinal (for example, f(\omega) = \omega+1 \ne \omega = \sup \). If is a fixed ordinal, then the functions , (for ), and (for ) are all normal. More important examples of normal functions are given by the aleph numbers f(\alpha) = \aleph_\alpha, which connect ordinal and cardinal numbers, and by the beth numbers f(\alpha) = \beth_\alpha. Properties If is normal, then for any ordinal , :. Proof: If not, choose minimal such that . Since is strictly monotonically increasing, , contr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monotonic Function
In mathematics, a monotonic function (or monotone function) is a function between ordered sets that preserves or reverses the given order. This concept first arose in calculus, and was later generalized to the more abstract setting of order theory. In calculus and analysis In calculus, a function f defined on a subset of the real numbers with real values is called ''monotonic'' if it is either entirely non-decreasing, or entirely non-increasing. That is, as per Fig. 1, a function that increases monotonically does not exclusively have to increase, it simply must not decrease. A function is termed ''monotonically increasing'' (also ''increasing'' or ''non-decreasing'') if for all x and y such that x \leq y one has f\!\left(x\right) \leq f\!\left(y\right), so f preserves the order (see Figure 1). Likewise, a function is called ''monotonically decreasing'' (also ''decreasing'' or ''non-increasing'') if, whenever x \leq y, then f\!\left(x\right) \geq f\!\left(y\right), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
