Properties[edit]

Uncountability[edit]

Georg Cantor introduced the concept of cardinality to compare the sizes of infinite sets. He famously showed that the set of real numbers is uncountably infinite. That is, is strictly greater than the cardinality of the natural numbers, :

the set of all subsets of (i.e., power set )

the set of indicator functions defined on subsets of the reals (the set is isomorphic to  – the indicator function chooses elements of each subset to include)

2R

the set of all functions from to

the of , i.e., the set of all Lebesgue measurable sets in .

Lebesgue σ-algebra

the set of all functions from to

Lebesgue-integrable

the set of all functions from to

Lebesgue-measurable

the of , , and

Stone–Čech compactifications

the set of all automorphisms of the (discrete) field of complex numbers.

Sets with cardinality greater than include:


These all have cardinality (beth two)

Cardinal characteristic of the continuum

Naive set theory. Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1960. Reprinted by Springer-Verlag, New York, 1974. ISBN 0-387-90092-6 (Springer-Verlag edition).

Paul Halmos

2003. Set Theory: The Third Millennium Edition, Revised and Expanded. Springer. ISBN 3-540-44085-2.

Jech, Thomas

This article incorporates material from cardinality of the continuum on PlanetMath, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.