Set theory is a branch of mathematics created principally by the German mathematician Georg Cantor at the end of the 19th century. Initially controversial, set theory has come to play the role of a foundational theory in modern mathematics, in the sense of a theory invoked to justify assumptions made in mathematics concerning the existence of mathematical objects (such as numbers or functions) and their properties. Formal versions of set theory also have a foundational role to play as specifying a theoretical ideal of mathematical rig ...

Including:

• Axiomatic set theory - The origins of rigorous set theory
• Axiomatic set theory - Axioms for set theory
• Axiomatic set theory - Independence in ZFC
• Axiomatic set theory - Set theory ZFC foundations for mathematics
• Axiomatic set theory - Well-foundedness and hypersets
• Axiomatic set theory - Objections to set theory

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Since its inception, there have been some mathematicians who have objected to using set theory as a foundation for mathematics, claiming that it is just a game which includes elements of fantasy. Notably, Henri Poincaré is supposed to have said "set theory is a disease from which mathematics will one day recover", (this quotation is part of the folklore of mathematics; the original source is unknown) and Errett Bishop dismissed set th ...

See also:

Axiomatic set theory, Axiomatic set theory - The origins of rigorous set theory, Axiomatic set theory - Axioms for set theory, Axiomatic set theory - Independence in ZFC, Axiomatic set theory - Set theory ZFC foundations for mathematics, Axiomatic set theory - Well-foundedness and hypersets, Axiomatic set theory - Objections to set theory

Read more here: » Axiomatic set theory: Encyclopedia II - Axiomatic set theory - Objections to set theory

The important idea of Cantor's, which got set theory going as a new field of study, was to define two sets A and B to have the same number of members (the same cardinality) when there is a way of pairing off members of A exhaustively with members of B. Then the set N of natural numbers has the same cardinality as the set Q of rational numbers (they are both said to be countably infinite), even though N is a proper subset of Q. On the other hand, the set R of real numbers d ...

See also:

Axiomatic set theory, Axiomatic set theory - The origins of rigorous set theory, Axiomatic set theory - Axioms for set theory, Axiomatic set theory - Independence in ZFC, Axiomatic set theory - Set theory ZFC foundations for mathematics, Axiomatic set theory - Well-foundedness and hypersets, Axiomatic set theory - Objections to set theory

Read more here: » Axiomatic set theory: Encyclopedia II - Axiomatic set theory - The origins of rigorous set theory

In 1917, Dmitry Mirimanov (also spelled Mirimanoff) introduced the concept of well-foundedness: a set, x0, is well founded iff it has no infinite descending membership sequence: · · · In ZFC, there is no infinite descending ∈-sequence by the axiom of regularity (for a proof see Axiom of regularity). In fact, the axiom of regularity is often called the foundation axiom since it can be proved within ZFC- (that is, ZFC wit ...

See also:

Axiomatic set theory, Axiomatic set theory - The origins of rigorous set theory, Axiomatic set theory - Axioms for set theory, Axiomatic set theory - Independence in ZFC, Axiomatic set theory - Set theory ZFC foundations for mathematics, Axiomatic set theory - Well-foundedness and hypersets, Axiomatic set theory - Objections to set theory

Read more here: » Axiomatic set theory: Encyclopedia II - Axiomatic set theory - Well-foundedness and hypersets

From these initial axioms for sets one can construct all other mathematical concepts and objects: number - discrete and continuous, order, relation, function , etc. For example, whilst the elements of a set have no intrinsic ordering it is possible to construct models of ordered lists. The essential step is to be able to model the ordered pair ( a, b ) which represents the pairing of two objects in this order. The defining property of an ordered pair is that ( a, b ) = ( c, d ) if and only if a = c and b = d. The approach is basically to specify th ...

See also:

Axiomatic set theory, Axiomatic set theory - The origins of rigorous set theory, Axiomatic set theory - Axioms for set theory, Axiomatic set theory - Independence in ZFC, Axiomatic set theory - Set theory ZFC foundations for mathematics, Axiomatic set theory - Well-foundedness and hypersets, Axiomatic set theory - Objections to set theory

Read more here: » Axiomatic set theory: Encyclopedia II - Axiomatic set theory - Set theory ZFC foundations for mathematics

The axioms for set theory now most often studied and used, although put in their final form by Skolem, are called the Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory (ZF). Actually, this term usually excludes the axiom of choice, which was once more controversial than it is today. When this axiom is included, the resulting system is called ZFC. An important feature of ZFC is that every object that it deals with is a set. In particular, every element of a set is itself a set. Other familiar mathematical objects, s ...

See also:

Axiomatic set theory, Axiomatic set theory - The origins of rigorous set theory, Axiomatic set theory - Axioms for set theory, Axiomatic set theory - Independence in ZFC, Axiomatic set theory - Set theory ZFC foundations for mathematics, Axiomatic set theory - Well-foundedness and hypersets, Axiomatic set theory - Objections to set theory

Read more here: » Axiomatic set theory: Encyclopedia II - Axiomatic set theory - Axioms for set theory

Many important statements are independent of ZFC, see the list of statements undecidable in ZFC. The independence is usually proved by forcing, that is, it is shown that every countable transitive model of ZFC (plus, occasionally, large cardinal axioms) can be expanded to satisfy the statement in question, and (through a different expansion) its negation. An independence proof by forcing automatically proves independence from arithmetical statements, other concrete statements, and large cardinal axioms. Some statements independent of ZFC can ...

See also:

Axiomatic set theory, Axiomatic set theory - The origins of rigorous set theory, Axiomatic set theory - Axioms for set theory, Axiomatic set theory - Independence in ZFC, Axiomatic set theory - Set theory ZFC foundations for mathematics, Axiomatic set theory - Well-foundedness and hypersets, Axiomatic set theory - Objections to set theory

Read more here: » Axiomatic set theory: Encyclopedia II - Axiomatic set theory - Independence in ZFC