The Generalised Continuum Hypothesis Implies the Axiom of Choice in Coq Dominik Kirst Felix Rech Saarland University Saarland University Saarland Informatics Campus, Saarbrücken, Germany Saarland Informatics Campus, Saarbrücken, Germany
[email protected] [email protected] Abstract between X and P¹Xº for every infinite X. Therefore, GCH We discuss and compare two Coq mechanisations of Sier- narrows the range of the power set operation otherwise left piński’s result that the generalised continuum hypothesis rather underspecified by the usual Zermelo-Fraenkel (ZF) (GCH) implies the axiom of choice (AC). The first version axioms. AC, in one typical set-theoretic formulation, states shows the result, originally stated in first-order ZF set-theory, that every set X of non-empty sets admits a choice function for a higher-order set theory convenient to work with in Coq. f such that f ¹xº 2 x for all x 2 X. The second version presents a corresponding theorem for That GCH as a statement about power sets and cardinal- Coq’s type theory itself, concerning type-theoretic formu- ity implies AC, a statement providing a means to uniformly lations of GCH and AC. Both versions rely on the classical pick elements from non-empty sets, may seem surprising law of excluded middle and extensionality assumptions but indeed [14]. However, since AC is equivalent to the well- we localise the use of axioms where possible. ordering theorem (WO), asserting that every (infinite) set can be well-ordered, and since well-orders transport along in- CCS Concepts: • Theory of computation ! Type the- jections, there is a well-established strategy how Sierpiński’s ory; Constructive mathematics; Higher order logic.