The Continuum Hypothesis: How Big Is Infinity?
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Set Theory, by Thomas Jech, Academic Press, New York, 1978, Xii + 621 Pp., '$53.00
BOOK REVIEWS 775 BULLETIN (New Series) OF THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY Volume 3, Number 1, July 1980 © 1980 American Mathematical Society 0002-9904/80/0000-0 319/$01.75 Set theory, by Thomas Jech, Academic Press, New York, 1978, xii + 621 pp., '$53.00. "General set theory is pretty trivial stuff really" (Halmos; see [H, p. vi]). At least, with the hindsight afforded by Cantor, Zermelo, and others, it is pretty trivial to do the following. First, write down a list of axioms about sets and membership, enunciating some "obviously true" set-theoretic principles; the most popular Hst today is called ZFC (the Zermelo-Fraenkel axioms with the axiom of Choice). Next, explain how, from ZFC, one may derive all of conventional mathematics, including the general theory of transfinite cardi nals and ordinals. This "trivial" part of set theory is well covered in standard texts, such as [E] or [H]. Jech's book is an introduction to the "nontrivial" part. Now, nontrivial set theory may be roughly divided into two general areas. The first area, classical set theory, is a direct outgrowth of Cantor's work. Cantor set down the basic properties of cardinal numbers. In particular, he showed that if K is a cardinal number, then 2", or exp(/c), is a cardinal strictly larger than K (if A is a set of size K, 2* is the cardinality of the family of all subsets of A). Now starting with a cardinal K, we may form larger cardinals exp(ic), exp2(ic) = exp(exp(fc)), exp3(ic) = exp(exp2(ic)), and in fact this may be continued through the transfinite to form expa(»c) for every ordinal number a. -
Set-Theoretic Geology, the Ultimate Inner Model, and New Axioms
Set-theoretic Geology, the Ultimate Inner Model, and New Axioms Justin William Henry Cavitt (860) 949-5686 [email protected] Advisor: W. Hugh Woodin Harvard University March 20, 2017 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Philosophy Contents 1 Introduction 2 1.1 Author’s Note . .4 1.2 Acknowledgements . .4 2 The Independence Problem 5 2.1 Gödelian Independence and Consistency Strength . .5 2.2 Forcing and Natural Independence . .7 2.2.1 Basics of Forcing . .8 2.2.2 Forcing Facts . 11 2.2.3 The Space of All Forcing Extensions: The Generic Multiverse 15 2.3 Recap . 16 3 Approaches to New Axioms 17 3.1 Large Cardinals . 17 3.2 Inner Model Theory . 25 3.2.1 Basic Facts . 26 3.2.2 The Constructible Universe . 30 3.2.3 Other Inner Models . 35 3.2.4 Relative Constructibility . 38 3.3 Recap . 39 4 Ultimate L 40 4.1 The Axiom V = Ultimate L ..................... 41 4.2 Central Features of Ultimate L .................... 42 4.3 Further Philosophical Considerations . 47 4.4 Recap . 51 1 5 Set-theoretic Geology 52 5.1 Preliminaries . 52 5.2 The Downward Directed Grounds Hypothesis . 54 5.2.1 Bukovský’s Theorem . 54 5.2.2 The Main Argument . 61 5.3 Main Results . 65 5.4 Recap . 74 6 Conclusion 74 7 Appendix 75 7.1 Notation . 75 7.2 The ZFC Axioms . 76 7.3 The Ordinals . 77 7.4 The Universe of Sets . 77 7.5 Transitive Models and Absoluteness . -
Set-Theoretic Foundations1
To appear in A. Caicedo et al, eds., Foundations of Mathematics, (Providence, RI: AMS). Set-theoretic Foundations1 It’s more or less standard orthodoxy these days that set theory - - ZFC, extended by large cardinals -- provides a foundation for classical mathematics. Oddly enough, it’s less clear what ‘providing a foundation’ comes to. Still, there are those who argue strenuously that category theory would do this job better than set theory does, or even that set theory can’t do it at all, and that category theory can. There are also those insist that set theory should be understood, not as the study of a single universe, V, purportedly described by ZFC + LCs, but as the study of a so-called ‘multiverse’ of set-theoretic universes -- while retaining its foundational role. I won’t pretend to sort out all these complex and contentious matters, but I do hope to compile a few relevant observations that might help bring illumination somewhat closer to hand. 1 It’s an honor to be included in this 60th birthday tribute to Hugh Woodin, who’s done so much to further, and often enough to re-orient, research on the fundamentals of contemporary set theory. I’m grateful to the organizers for this opportunity, and especially, to Professor Woodin for his many contributions. 2 I. Foundational uses of set theory The most common characterization of set theory’s foundational role, the characterization found in textbooks, is illustrated in the opening sentences of Kunen’s classic book on forcing: Set theory is the foundation of mathematics. All mathematical concepts are defined in terms of the primitive notions of set and membership. -
Arxiv:1901.02074V1 [Math.LO] 4 Jan 2019 a Xoskona Lrecrias Ih Eal Ogv Entv a Definitive a Give T to of Able Basis Be the Might Cardinals” [17]
GENERIC LARGE CARDINALS AS AXIOMS MONROE ESKEW Abstract. We argue against Foreman’s proposal to settle the continuum hy- pothesis and other classical independent questions via the adoption of generic large cardinal axioms. Shortly after proving that the set of all real numbers has a strictly larger car- dinality than the set of integers, Cantor conjectured his Continuum Hypothesis (CH): that there is no set of a size strictly in between that of the integers and the real numbers [1]. A resolution of CH was the first problem on Hilbert’s famous list presented in 1900 [19]. G¨odel made a major advance by constructing a model of the Zermelo-Frankel (ZF) axioms for set theory in which the Axiom of Choice and CH both hold, starting from a model of ZF. This showed that the axiom system ZF, if consistent on its own, could not disprove Choice, and that ZF with Choice (ZFC), a system which suffices to formalize the methods of ordinary mathematics, could not disprove CH [16]. It remained unknown at the time whether models of ZFC could be found in which CH was false, but G¨odel began to suspect that this was possible, and hence that CH could not be settled on the basis of the normal methods of mathematics. G¨odel remained hopeful, however, that new mathemati- cal axioms known as “large cardinals” might be able to give a definitive answer on CH [17]. The independence of CH from ZFC was finally solved by Cohen’s invention of the method of forcing [2]. Cohen’s method showed that ZFC could not prove CH either, and in fact could not put any kind of bound on the possible number of cardinals between the sizes of the integers and the reals. -
Axiomatic Set Teory P.D.Welch
Axiomatic Set Teory P.D.Welch. August 16, 2020 Contents Page 1 Axioms and Formal Systems 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Preliminaries: axioms and formal systems. 3 1.2.1 The formal language of ZF set theory; terms 4 1.2.2 The Zermelo-Fraenkel Axioms 7 1.3 Transfinite Recursion 9 1.4 Relativisation of terms and formulae 11 2 Initial segments of the Universe 17 2.1 Singular ordinals: cofinality 17 2.1.1 Cofinality 17 2.1.2 Normal Functions and closed and unbounded classes 19 2.1.3 Stationary Sets 22 2.2 Some further cardinal arithmetic 24 2.3 Transitive Models 25 2.4 The H sets 27 2.4.1 H - the hereditarily finite sets 28 2.4.2 H - the hereditarily countable sets 29 2.5 The Montague-Levy Reflection theorem 30 2.5.1 Absoluteness 30 2.5.2 Reflection Theorems 32 2.6 Inaccessible Cardinals 34 2.6.1 Inaccessible cardinals 35 2.6.2 A menagerie of other large cardinals 36 3 Formalising semantics within ZF 39 3.1 Definite terms and formulae 39 3.1.1 The non-finite axiomatisability of ZF 44 3.2 Formalising syntax 45 3.3 Formalising the satisfaction relation 46 3.4 Formalising definability: the function Def. 47 3.5 More on correctness and consistency 48 ii iii 3.5.1 Incompleteness and Consistency Arguments 50 4 The Constructible Hierarchy 53 4.1 The L -hierarchy 53 4.2 The Axiom of Choice in L 56 4.3 The Axiom of Constructibility 57 4.4 The Generalised Continuum Hypothesis in L. -
Are Large Cardinal Axioms Restrictive?
Are Large Cardinal Axioms Restrictive? Neil Barton∗ 24 June 2020y Abstract The independence phenomenon in set theory, while perva- sive, can be partially addressed through the use of large cardinal axioms. A commonly assumed idea is that large cardinal axioms are species of maximality principles. In this paper, I argue that whether or not large cardinal axioms count as maximality prin- ciples depends on prior commitments concerning the richness of the subset forming operation. In particular I argue that there is a conception of maximality through absoluteness, on which large cardinal axioms are restrictive. I argue, however, that large cardi- nals are still important axioms of set theory and can play many of their usual foundational roles. Introduction Large cardinal axioms are widely viewed as some of the best candi- dates for new axioms of set theory. They are (apparently) linearly ordered by consistency strength, have substantial mathematical con- sequences for questions independent from ZFC (such as consistency statements and Projective Determinacy1), and appear natural to the ∗Fachbereich Philosophie, University of Konstanz. E-mail: neil.barton@uni- konstanz.de. yI would like to thank David Aspero,´ David Fernandez-Bret´ on,´ Monroe Eskew, Sy-David Friedman, Victoria Gitman, Luca Incurvati, Michael Potter, Chris Scam- bler, Giorgio Venturi, Matteo Viale, Kameryn Williams and audiences in Cambridge, New York, Konstanz, and Sao˜ Paulo for helpful discussion. Two anonymous ref- erees also provided helpful comments, and I am grateful for their input. I am also very grateful for the generous support of the FWF (Austrian Science Fund) through Project P 28420 (The Hyperuniverse Programme) and the VolkswagenStiftung through the project Forcing: Conceptual Change in the Foundations of Mathematics. -
Lecture Notes: Axiomatic Set Theory
Lecture Notes: Axiomatic Set Theory Asaf Karagila Last Update: May 14, 2018 Contents 1 Introduction 3 1.1 Why do we need axioms?...............................3 1.2 Classes and sets.....................................4 1.3 The axioms of set theory................................5 2 Ordinals, recursion and induction7 2.1 Ordinals.........................................8 2.2 Transfinite induction and recursion..........................9 2.3 Transitive classes.................................... 10 3 The relative consistency of the Axiom of Foundation 12 4 Cardinals and their arithmetic 15 4.1 The definition of cardinals............................... 15 4.2 The Aleph numbers.................................. 17 4.3 Finiteness........................................ 18 5 Absoluteness and reflection 21 5.1 Absoluteness...................................... 21 5.2 Reflection........................................ 23 6 The Axiom of Choice 25 6.1 The Axiom of Choice.................................. 25 6.2 Weak version of the Axiom of Choice......................... 27 7 Sets of Ordinals 31 7.1 Cofinality........................................ 31 7.2 Some cardinal arithmetic............................... 32 7.3 Clubs and stationary sets............................... 33 7.4 The Club filter..................................... 35 8 Inner models of ZF 37 8.1 Inner models...................................... 37 8.2 Gödel’s constructible universe............................. 39 1 8.3 The properties of L ................................... 41 8.4 Ordinal definable sets................................. 42 9 Some combinatorics on ω1 43 9.1 Aronszajn trees..................................... 43 9.2 Diamond and Suslin trees............................... 44 10 Coda: Games and determinacy 46 2 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Why do we need axioms? In modern mathematics, axioms are given to define an object. The axioms of a group define the notion of a group, the axioms of a Banach space define what it means for something to be a Banach space. -
Georg Cantor English Version
GEORG CANTOR (March 3, 1845 – January 6, 1918) by HEINZ KLAUS STRICK, Germany There is hardly another mathematician whose reputation among his contemporary colleagues reflected such a wide disparity of opinion: for some, GEORG FERDINAND LUDWIG PHILIPP CANTOR was a corruptor of youth (KRONECKER), while for others, he was an exceptionally gifted mathematical researcher (DAVID HILBERT 1925: Let no one be allowed to drive us from the paradise that CANTOR created for us.) GEORG CANTOR’s father was a successful merchant and stockbroker in St. Petersburg, where he lived with his family, which included six children, in the large German colony until he was forced by ill health to move to the milder climate of Germany. In Russia, GEORG was instructed by private tutors. He then attended secondary schools in Wiesbaden and Darmstadt. After he had completed his schooling with excellent grades, particularly in mathematics, his father acceded to his son’s request to pursue mathematical studies in Zurich. GEORG CANTOR could equally well have chosen a career as a violinist, in which case he would have continued the tradition of his two grandmothers, both of whom were active as respected professional musicians in St. Petersburg. When in 1863 his father died, CANTOR transferred to Berlin, where he attended lectures by KARL WEIERSTRASS, ERNST EDUARD KUMMER, and LEOPOLD KRONECKER. On completing his doctorate in 1867 with a dissertation on a topic in number theory, CANTOR did not obtain a permanent academic position. He taught for a while at a girls’ school and at an institution for training teachers, all the while working on his habilitation thesis, which led to a teaching position at the university in Halle. -
The Logic of Sheaves, Sheaf Forcing and the Independence of The
The logic of sheaves, sheaf forcing and the independence of the Continuum Hypothesis J. Benavides∗ Abstract An introduction is given to the logic of sheaves of structures and to set theoretic forcing constructions based on this logic. Using these tools, it is presented an alternative proof of the independence of the Continuum Hypothesis; which simplifies and unifies the classical boolean and intuitionistic approaches, avoiding the difficulties linked to the categorical machinery of the topoi based approach. Introduction The first of the 10 problems that Hilbert posed in his famous conference the 1900 in Paris 1, the problem of the Continuum Hypothesis (CH for short), which asserts that every subset of the real numbers is either enumerable or has the cardinality of the Continuum; was the origin of probably one of the greatest achievements in Mathematics of the second half of the XX century: The forcing technique created by Paul Cohen during the sixties. Using this technique Cohen showed that the CH is independent (i.e. it cannot be proved or disproved) from the axioms of Zermelo-Fraenkel plus the Axiom of Choice (ZF C). At the beginning Cohen approached the problem in a pure syntactic way, he defined a procedure to find a contradiction in ZF C given a contradiction in ZF C + ¬CH; which implies that Con(ZF C) → Con(ZF C + ¬CH) (The consistency of ZF C implies the con- sistency of ZF C + ¬CH). However this approach was a non-constructivist one, for it was not given a model of ZF C + ¬CH. Nevertheless in his publish papers Cohen developed two arXiv:1111.5854v3 [math.LO] 7 Feb 2012 other approaches more constructivist. -
The Continuum Hypothesis
Mathematics As A Liberal Art Math 105 Fall 2015 Fowler 302 MWF 10:40am- 11:35am BY: 2015 Ron Buckmire http://sites.oxy.edu/ron/math/105/15/ Class 22: Monday October 26 Aleph One (@1) and All That The Continuum Hypothesis: Introducing @1 (Aleph One) We can show that the power set of the natural numbers has a cardinality greater than the the cardinality of the natural numbers. This result was proven in an 1891 paper by German mathematician Georg Cantor (1845-1918) who used something called a diagonalization argument in his proof. Using our formula for the cardinality of the power set, @0 jP(N)j = 2 = @1 The cardinality of the power set of the natural numbers is called @1. THEOREM Cantor's Power Set Theorem For any set S (finite or infinite), cardinality of the power set of S, i.e. P (S) is always strictly greater than the cardinality of S. Mathematically, this says that jP (S)j > jS THEOREM c > @0 The cardinality of the real numbers is greater than the cardinality of the natural numbers. DEFINITION: Uncountable An infinite set is said to be uncountable (or nondenumerable) if it has a cardinality that is greater than @0, i.e. it has more elements than the set of natural numbers. PROOF Let's use Cantor's diagonal process to show that the set of real numbers between 0 and 1 is uncountable. Math As A Liberal Art Class 22 Math 105 Spring 2015 THEOREM The Continuum Hypothesis, i.e. @1 =c The continuum hypothesis is that the cardinality of the continuum (i.e. -
The Continuum Hypothesis and Its Relation to the Lusin Set
THE CONTINUUM HYPOTHESIS AND ITS RELATION TO THE LUSIN SET CLIVE CHANG Abstract. In this paper, we prove that the Continuum Hypothesis is equiv- alent to the existence of a subset of R called a Lusin set and the property that every subset of R with cardinality < c is of first category. Additionally, we note an interesting consequence of the measure of a Lusin set, specifically that it has measure zero. We introduce the concepts of ordinals and cardinals, as well as discuss some basic point-set topology. Contents 1. Introduction 1 2. Ordinals 2 3. Cardinals and Countability 2 4. The Continuum Hypothesis and Aleph Numbers 2 5. The Topology on R 3 6. Meagre (First Category) and Fσ Sets 3 7. The existence of a Lusin set, assuming CH 4 8. The Lebesque Measure on R 4 9. Additional Property of the Lusin set 4 10. Lemma: CH is equivalent to R being representable as an increasing chain of countable sets 5 11. The Converse: Proof of CH from the existence of a Lusin set and a property of R 6 12. Closing Comments 6 Acknowledgments 6 References 6 1. Introduction Throughout much of the early and middle twentieth century, the Continuum Hypothesis (CH) served as one of the premier problems in the foundations of math- ematical set theory, attracting the attention of countless famous mathematicians, most notably, G¨odel,Cantor, Cohen, and Hilbert. The conjecture first advanced by Cantor in 1877, makes a claim about the relationship between the cardinality of the continuum (R) and the cardinality of the natural numbers (N), in relation to infinite set hierarchy. -
Aaboe, Asger Episodes from the Early History of Mathematics QA22 .A13 Abbott, Edwin Abbott Flatland: a Romance of Many Dimensions QA699 .A13 1953 Abbott, J
James J. Gehrig Memorial Library _________Table of Contents_______________________________________________ Section I. Cover Page..............................................i Table of Contents......................................ii Biography of James Gehrig.............................iii Section II. - Library Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘A’...................1 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘B’...................3 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘C’...................7 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘D’..................10 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘E’..................13 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘F’..................14 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘G’..................16 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘H’..................18 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘I’..................22 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘J’..................23 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘K’..................24 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘L’..................27 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘M’..................29 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘N’..................33 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘O’..................34 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘P’..................35 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘Q’..................38 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘R’..................39 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘S’..................41 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘T’..................45 Author’s Last Name beginning with ‘U’..................47 Author’s Last Name beginning