THINKING WITH MATHEMATICS An Introduction to Transfinite Mathematics By John E. Yarnelle #. D.C. HEATH AND COMPANY BOSTONCOPYRIGHT @ 1964, BY D. C. HBATH AND COMPANY No partot the material covered by tis copyright nay be reproduced jn any form without writen poms fom the publisher Printed nthe United Staenof Ameren Pte Agi 1966 Preface ‘Thisbooklt deals, in scence, wth «branch of mathematics which ray be unfamiliar to many readers” Somo ofthe idess contained Iertin are fairy sophisticated and will require erful reading a well, sa considerable amount of thought. On the other hand, the teat ‘ment i deliberately informal, and th explanations are presented with fn abundanee of detail and in nosteshaial language. Anyone, ‘herefore, with» ively curiosity and a good background in cle ‘montary high schol algebra should be able to cope th the material uit efleetivey ‘To mot of us atone time or another there must have come re current, perplesng thoughts about the nature of something exiled infty, What exaetyis meant bythe term? Is it somothing to run sway Trom—or at best writ off as undetnabe? Orie something which ean be sventifelly examined and completely explained by ‘mathemati methods? Perhaps the tuth les somesehere between the to extremes, At vy rate, mathematicians and philesopbore have buon tuuling with {uestions relating to infinity for a considerable span of times & ‘aul there as eprng into existence a strange new species of objects called tranafnite numbers, What these are how they behave, and how they ean be compared one to another willbe the principal subject of thin study, “When you have finshed you may sill want to run ssnay from infty. But atleast you wil know more shout what youre rang rm, ‘The theory of traafnite number, langly the brn eid of the iret mathematical genius Georg Cantor, has had 1 profound hn fuence on both the mathematical and the philosophical thought of ‘ur day. Cantor's development ofthe theory of eardnal and ordinalumber ca work of great sophistioation and bold, penelrating ine 1 wil not be pose in this eal! book to encompass the scope of Cantor's work or that of his followers inthe Bld. Moreover, it hasnt seemed desnblet tive fo the high level of rigor and logic! ‘raciase which the theory i capable of exhibiting (On the other hand, it is hoped that this bri introduction with its informal glinpecs ino the surprising “outer reaches" of infty wil, start the al ong toward further explorations. Mach interesting feunty lee ahead, Hanover, Indiana ome evant Chapter 1 (Chapter I (Chapter 11 Bibliography Answers Contents ‘Cardial Numbers 1. The Largest 2 Site 3 Cardinal Nombre 4 Counting 6 Subsets (Countable Innis 1. The Cardinal Number Ro 2. How Smalley? 3. How Large is Ry? 4 Sums and Prodct of Carina Numbers 5 The Unconventional Behavior of Algebraic Numbers Uncountable Innities 1. The Unit Enteral 2. The Caron! Number © 3. An Equivalence Theorem 4 Other Sete with Cada! Number € 5: Longer Intervals 5 More about Cardinal Same 17. More sbost CasSinal Product © ine the Great? 9. Cartzal Exports 10, Th Cardinal Number 2% 1, An Bnargemeat Proce Garda Nuteze Langer than € Summary plague a o 6sThe mumer of grain of sand onthe Beach a Coney Toland it muck eo ono googal — 600,00 ,00,00 00 00,000,000 00,00 00,0000, .000,0000,00,0000, 0000 09000000, 00000, 000,00,00900 000,000. owano exsxen 1 enuld be bounded én a muta and count myself king of infinite pace suanesrEane The infinite! Noche gueaion ha ener mone so profoundly the spirit ofan. avio mune CARDINAL NUMBERS 1. THE LARGEST NUMBER ‘Thrce very youthful but novelhces earnest mathematicians were engaged in eeated digestion, atempling to come to gripe ith & ‘ery peering problem. “How big,” the fst ce wanted to know, “is the bigest number there it “Anybody knows that,” sid th second member, who seemed to bea kindof self-appointed committee chairman. "Isa lin!” ‘What's lion?” persisted the fret speaker “A allan’ lion mlion|” the chieman replied with the air of cone dliveringthe coup de grace "AL this point the number Ureo daputant, who had heretofore ‘maintained diereetallenes, came forth with the fllowing query “What about lion ps one?” As thas to many a serious seer aftr truth sinc the tine wher sman fist bogan to probe into the shadowy, recondite mysteries of number, this question proved to bea vel “etumper"L ‘There was, in fac, a sustained pered of sence, after which the chairman again picked up the ballbut this tie inthe manner of fone who i manifest las ure of ha ground “All rght, what about lin zilon?” "You take a silion allon,” sud number thee, “and Tl take a silion silion ps ont” ‘Wherewpon the shairman openod his mouth a if to make «tling reply, then bit back his words, For he whe fair-minded, thoughtful boy, who undoubtedly became in later years one of the nation’s outstanding scientists! 1Following few moments of soul-searching refetion, he made thi ‘remarkable tere: goes, then, tere ent any bigest number.” ‘Why not? sui the st boy. “Because no matter how big & number you have, you can always si one more” ‘A profound cbsorvaton, and one which ean well serve to keynote this introduction to fascinating wren of mathemati, namely, the study of the inne, or, more presely, the ety of drangile members. 2 ses {mn puting the seal of approval onthe fal comment of cur youl chairman itrmight be wel to adjt the language «bit Suppose we replace the word number by postive intger, these of positive in- ters (aometine ealed counting numbers) being the et 0,2.384,.03) ‘The statement, “Theres no biggest mbes "in mare formal dre becomes, "The set of postive integers has no lange element." Note herein partiolr, the word ae Set are to play major roe in this story. Hence it seems appropriate at this point to comment brit fon the general Ueoy of sta, taking the inevitable rik that much of hat immatiately follows may be “old bt to some of our readers. ‘We regard a sot as meray a coletion af object, any objects at all,notnesasniy summers, This very Bebe concept. Tt ialao ‘quite Basie. Tho only general restietion paced on the elements of shy speied sty chat Uney have some intlying property which rakes completely clear the fact of Uhr belonging to this ptteale fet. In otber words given a et S and a general eam of objets, we ‘vt always beable to tall whether oF nota ested object Belongs tatheret §, "or example, uppose the sets asnumed tobe al human beings presently living in Boston, ‘Then, if one shows any human being at ‘andom, there should be no uncertainty itis either an element in the ‘St S,oritisn’. Asasimpler example let be the st ofall rambers larger than 100. Acting on tis asurptin, we ean enfdontly state ‘that 105 belongs to, $0 des not. “The general theory of sts is one of compelling interest and im portance. Tt ean, i fact, be regarded asthe Foundation ste upon 2 svhich ll of mathematics may bo erected, ‘The reader is therfore sironnly urged to delve deeper ato this tapie which hes been called “one ofthe boldest erations of the human mind.” For the purposes of the presen study we sal enfine ourselves to only a few aspects of the subject, generating therehy, we hope, an Insatiable appetite fr mere. 3, CARDINAL NUMBERS Our ehietconcern, a8 indicated shove, ie with so-called tansinite numbers. We shall to putt somewhat more glamorouly, be exe loving th itnite" What, then, has this to do with the theory ef or, vice versa, what do sls ave to-do with inity? As we shall shorty be ied to observe great deal! Lets begin by considering one aes property which we sal cll the cardinal minder (or eardinality) oft Initially this property may seem rather trivial and searely worth ‘making » major production over, ‘The plot, however, thickens us we ‘move along. Loowly speaking, the cardinal number of st isthe ‘umber of elements it contains, A sot coniting of baacall team (ot neesaily from 3, Louis) would have the cardinal nue nine seis define asthe vertices of» square, ts eardnalityfsfour. A ‘welve-volume st of books has cardinality twelve. Accordingly, to ‘eta with the same numberof elements have the same cardinal, As ndiatedabovo, tore doen’ vem to be very mich to this dea st fist. If one ean actualy coun! the numberof clement ina st, ot ‘rive at this umber through some other avenue of knowledge, a in ‘the ease, fr example, ofthe st of all pereons inthe United Stator sccoring tothe 1960 Census, thn the cardinal nomber relatively ‘aay to dotermin, ‘But what fit se posible o count al ofthe elements? Can one, for instance, define the cardinal number of set whove elements ‘cannot al be counted” Tf so, would all sc ala have the same card ‘nal mumbec? These and other questions like them le atthe very heart ofthe matter. Westall sok to provide ome, a east of the answers 4. COUNTING Before making sorte into this relatively unknown and possibly dangerous new territory, let's examine more exrfuly what we ‘actully mean by eouning. Everyone knows in gener what the Word sgoifes. Hardly a day gos by without our having to engage ain the proses in one way or another. Bven at night we occasionally count sheep! ‘What is needed, however, i lightly more pretse notion whieh can bo paced in mathematic! terme in auch a way as to provide a ‘means for forming seas about infinity Lets begin witha general act of sa, 10 clemonts, Suppose, then, ‘hat thee elements are arrangd ina certain way and enh element Inbeled according to this pariclar arrangement a8 follows: 1)" ee 1 we then consider the ot of positive integer from Ito 10 inclusive, 11,2,8,4,055 10, it.shoud be ler that we can match cements in our general wot with clement in the Intager eet 20 that each general elemantcoresponds to exnally one integer, and vice versa. This typeof pitng is an important mathematical phenomenon called (alte understandably) ‘one oonecorespondence. In Uh above instance the orrespondence {a randy achieved by matching each subscript with its “Yellow in- toe Tt inny be intersting to obstrve that we do form a one-to-one earrespondence ofthis oct, though perhaps unconsciously, whenever wwe go through the ordinary busines of counting. We leak, for ex imple, at «crowd of people ina room. Wanting to now how many {here ar, we rat work ot some kind of ordering process, often start ing at the back (or front) of the room and attempting to fom, if possible, a pattern of rows. Then, beginning with the fit (or as) ow and Gfwebappen tobe a product of Wester calture)proseding from lett righ, we One, wo, thre, four etcetera” But this precisely the act of forming a oneto-ane correspondence ‘etree, on the one hand a set of people and, onthe otter, want of pave integer, igs ema i dy el oer ep ete to 4 ‘Suppose we are counting Uh cad ina bridge desk. This again the formation of «one-to-one corespondence i which the op card “corresponds” tothe integer 1, the econd from the top corresponds to the integer 2, and so forth, ‘With this idea in mind we are now in pation to construc amore rei dfinition af what meant by th cardinal numberof set. Definition: et Sia aid hase cardinal number nif and oly if {he cements of Scan be pul ina onetonone corerpondence ih Che fener 1,2,8,00.0)4 Here'm is assumed to be any postive integer. The eymbo (2, 5,.--8} denotes tho ae of ll positive integers fm in seeding lotder, upto and inching n. ‘We sall uve the notation N(S) — ‘nto mean “The cardial numberof the set Sim." Sets that have the same cardinal number are aid to be equal Ie follows that ‘Two sel ar equitlen if and omy if ther ements can be pn 1 carespondenee with ach other, ‘Thus it is evident thatthe eoncopts of eardinality,equivlene, and 1 eoresponence aro intimately ssocated one mith anther ‘You have probebly at onetime o another encountered comments bout the so-called empty st, or set devo of elements, usualy sige tified by the symbol. ‘This cet hs cnsderable sigifinnee inthe general theory. We shall not, however, in this discussion consider fhe eardiaality of ae zero, though this ie sometimes done. a susiging w cardinal number to any tt wo shall sways assume that the set in question is non-empty. 5. iNFNaTy We can now form connecting link between the eoneept of cardinal ‘umber and the general notion of infinity. ‘Though the word nite tnd infinite havea certain popular meaning, we bal pn things down 1 bit hy means of the following deiiion, "A tin in ih inn te rece an ht a at) by et aera core at pore tovees it cha by bch aod Baste: Mocrilan, 198" oe maeDefinition: A sl S i ite if and only it crdinal number is @ peeling 4 non-empty which ome icled ate "Though ite setshave their etabised place inthe general scheme at thingy ite on te ifine sla tate dll eet oor os Dovetrting ge. Aina eri, the major questions compeling urattetion aro:1) Can these ts be agned a earinal number?2) ‘Would the cardinal number a life stab the sme? ‘Te second question, by far the more intriguing, is equivalent to inquiring whether or not tere are diferent Kinds of init. No », 9-000», and 0 forth “Assume, thea, tht each real number in the preserbed ae fs written deeimally. Furdermare, forthe make of argument, let ws Sst make ‘he assumption thatthe ot is countable, Le, that we have eome sort of ordered listing o counting of elements in our customary patter, 2 13 follows: For those asustomed to mars notation, the double subaripts wll, be familar. “To tho rest perhaps e word af explanation i due. The symbol az, for example sto be regarded as having two subecrpt, 2 and 3 (aot the single number twenty-thre). The left ebeerps 2 howe that tia digit belongs to the second rea! number (subset 2 Felating it to). ‘The right subscript 3 lentes the digit inthe third decimal place. Accordingly, ayy would represent the digit in the seventh decimal place ofthe Sith real number; ge, the digit in the ‘ath deeimal place ofthe siath real number. "Now thatthe notation is clear, we can examine our assumption smote in detail We are saying, in fet that n correspondence can be thought ofa existing betwen ach integer n anda nonterminating decimal of the fort ‘This means that one would be theoetiealy able to count the reat numbers according to some pan. (Note specicaly that we are not ying what the plan ‘Nor are we attempting to doa any pat ‘cular element. We do not sy, for empl, that oy = 321Ta314002 and sq = 2506461024 We are meray supposing that such en arrangement i possible and that it will cue al of the rel numbers under eomideratia. Here, then, i the hypothetial setup: ‘We have, sx before, a countably inflate number of rowa ech row consisting fa dacimal point followed by a countably infinite number fof digit” Aa stipulate, each row must be diferent in at lat ome ‘ray from every other. The dfeence canbe slight. Tt might occur in 2‘only one decimal plage. For example, _aasr9aso2049 and 957208612619" ‘are ditferent ra numbers, though it might take a enrfu eye to detect thediferenee, Both would ave to beincladediaany complete sting Now recall thatthe scond par of the baie aumption was that ll real numbers inthe interval (0 2} were t0 be included in the iting, We propese, then, to demonstrate that no matter what the rangement, no matter how the sting i eoncsived, there wil ways be atleast one real number belonging in the sated interval trhich hes been inevitably left out ofthe listing. A kind of tricky busines, tobe ture, but follow if you cant Tet aay propose listing be represented as before: [Now form the decimal ‘by selecting from the master lit thoes digit represented with dupi- ‘ite subscript. (The selected digits may lobe thought of scoring from a diagonal line Msteted by the arrow.) This i clearly a ral umber in (0,1), Hence it should appear somewhere on thelist, sy in the sth positon, as the decimal expansion of the number 2. [Now with reference to, eonatruet a new decimal Brabaababeadas withthe following stipulations: on, each dng i diferent from the ed Ev, 20 Pag 20 u ‘This new number, since it has no ere, mat be a onterminating desma It ago umber in the preseibd interval, Call 3 t [Now not the flowing very earful ‘The mamber ti diferent in some repel rom ery number on he lia. Tn ther seord, the rol mamber ly has not ben included i the orginal lin, contrary tothe hypothe which expumed that the at wae complete. In presenting an argument such as this, one must be prepared to meet challenge oto. For insane, ie might ou to someone to A, “How do we know it snot onthe lit since we have no actual Tinto refer to, nor can auch a lit be actualy exhibited?” Wo ean eal with thin challenge by returaing tho bal as follows: “Very well then, concede that it ison the lit. Tt must appear somener in the counting sale, say asthe mth number, oF decimal fxpuaon of tq. But the desoal expansion of aq mus onan a digit in the th place, tis digit being dq. On the other hand, we know thatthe mth digit ff bn and by eonstraction| bn Fe nes, though a may agree with fin every other rape, we knw that is mth decimal i diferent, Consquenty it ea diferent real ule. "And, for similar reasons, iis diferent from any other ¢ ‘on the proposed list.” ‘Aseoond question might concern the pasty of constructing an slicentive orginal Tt which would ieude But we mast recall thatthe original notations, .a12a3--» were quite arbitrary. They merely stood fr any peel lating 2. THE CARDINAL NUMBER € “The foregoing arguments lad to ¢ major assertion: ‘he ec of real numbers, or pint, én the sett (0, 1] i not countable Let us call thinset J. We ar asserting, in other words hat the et J os not ave eardality Ry.” We do know thatthe st infin Now ean you constrict 1-1 eorespondeace between the positive integers ada subett of JT Try leting Lea ebia oben etn ‘Thus No eles than ot equal to the cardinal number of J 6arthermor, singe Ny as ben shown tobe unaqual to's ard ‘umber, we may tate it thatthe exrdinal numberof Ji greater haa, Rp. Following convention, we shall ell thine cardinal number € ‘Thus it appears that Bcc ‘The concept of equbelenr has already been examined for finite ‘and countably infinite sets This ean readily be extended, ‘That, ‘ny two sts aro ad to bo equivalent if they hav the same cardial umber, Le, ifthe elements of one sot can he put in 1-1 cone ‘pendence with the elements of the ote, 3. AN EQUIVALENCE THEOREM Since the ground has been broken forthe reeagniton of nates of 5 and some other ct whose ‘cardinality we already know. But what are some of thes ote with Sinown cardial numbers? "A quick review tells us that all nite “ Interval of any length) have cardinality € and tat ballin and full tine have cardinality € also How ean we ute this information to pracial advantage inthe bore cate? Suppose wo consider the individual elements in out Cartesian predust. One subset would be all element of the frm (ya), where «runs over the ost of points inthe interval [0 1). A fetond eubeet would eouta all elements a the frm (2), elemente hired aubset have the form (Gand 0 forth. This suggests & potuble earespondencs, What if oF example, we Ist each element fn the frat ouboet correspond tothe number or point) 1 -h a? Tn citer words, 0) 1. (4, 25) —+ 128 (33) 138 Te should be clear that wo would then haven 1-1 eorespondeneebe- ‘ween the elements inoue fit aubeet andthe points ofthe ball-7pen Steral 2). ‘What about the second eubee!? Can ths be put in 1-1 eoreapon- dence with second interval? ‘The thi subset” Can any eubect with ‘ements of the form (0,2), with ma fixed integer, be made to ‘comespood with an interval a, +1)? But the totality (ion) of all disjoint subets with elements (no form = 1, 2,8, --»isactully ‘ur Cartesian product, wile the totality (anion of al the intervale (ofthe form [myn 1) where n= 1,2, 3,--- bea half line with Initial point 1” "This hal ie hax cardinality €, What, then, athe ‘ardnal number of the Cartesian product? What ean be sid about Rye? "We ean now wie the Bernstein corallary eneountered before Without elaboration of detail i shouldbe elear that a set with ard] number, with Gite cardinal number, ea Cartesian Drduet with elements ofthe form (ke) where has value 1, 2,3, “yA for a faite intger a. This x leary subset of the Careian roduet considered above. Consequently we may conelude that nies Rye. ‘What about the relationship betwoon € and n- 7 Very rently reestablished «1-1 coreopondence between the plein the interval 11,2) and the st of all pale of the form (1, aubaet number 4“one inthe previous demonstration. ‘Thus ast with cardinal number {Cis equivalent toa suber of «et with cardinality mC ow i follows that esn @ whence we conclude that nC and Ro Care both equ to € ‘As Hamlet mournfully inquired, “What ceremony else?* “There seinaina the question of SMe and Ne=e ee In deatiog with thi, we shall alo uncover another important phe- ‘nomenon. Tn oer ward, the project hase double dividend. ‘Suppore we begin ina sinular manner. Only this time we shal se ‘us our representative eet with cardinality C the st of pointe (al rnumbar) in Ue interval (0, 1). A-aet with cardinal number CC, then, isthe ast ofall pairs (2,9) with > any rel number between (O and 1 excluding sero, and y any ral number in the same st ‘We have already established the fot that each element i either of ‘ur to sets ean be uniquely expresed esa nonterminating decimal. Tn the Cartesian produet, therefore, any slant (zy) may be thought of as pair of nonterminating decals, "The strategy tobe fllowed should now suggest elt. We wish to inquire whether or nota 1-1 corrspondenes ean be setup between ‘ur et of pers and vome known twit cardinality ©The question 12 What known at a mast appropriate?” Suppose we try ether one ofthe to see already inthe et So as not to conse things, let ts introduce # diferent later forthe individual ements sey 2 et w then ele atand for any eal number auch that ocwsh ‘The trick, then, is to form a 1-1 corespondence between elements (9) and elements. Tn abort, oe shall Uy to make each pair of ‘ontrminating decimals corerpond to single nontermnating ‘decimal and vio vers. “Actually the tase snot too diet. In all probability you may have aren thought of a way. Supp we selec a pale (2,91) at oes with and where the peviou convention involving repeated ie adhered to 0 ‘to gurantee uniquenem. ‘New let my = arbasbeoads ‘Thi is «nonterminating decimal. It belongs in the appropriate set. ‘To the question, “Is the correspondence eetually I-17" we sugaeat ‘the fllowing counter question "Given any pat (cea we ee ways determine unique number w? Given a number w, can we sways fnd a unique pai =, 9)? ‘The fist i anewored alondy. For the sesond, let's condor an crample. Let w — 250271643 ., the dota implying aay od cou- tinuing sequence of digits, It should be lene that our patter gives us == 20768 and yo BME Omitting few final details, we see that the conclusion about ee fn inoitable, We shall now proced to uncover a major cotequenoe of this result, This isthe promised "second dividend.” Real tat the st of tll reat numbers has cardinality C. Since we now know that eens what can bead about the st of ll pore of rel numbers? ‘Thoes having nly the barat nodding acquaintance with analytic sometry will recognize tat this et of pairs eoeresponds to the set ‘fall points in the socalled Bucidean plane. Our byproduct (00 ‘mean fchievement?) has thun been the establishment of rather staring fet, namely, cat the eet fal points on lin i epuaent to tho set ofall points ins plane ‘There ie, poaly, an even more surprising result etamuaing from ‘the same contusion, One ean ow aset tha: ‘he st ofall pointa inthe plane ee the same cardinality othe ‘at of pont inthe el (0,1 Returning now to an erie eet of quetions concerning the arith: metic of trnfnite numbers, we may summarae the rls ebtaned ‘thus far a follows: aAssuring that ni any fie cardinal amber, we ave Rota Rots = By Ryon= Ny BoB and Chae ctty= Creme Cina e Rae cme Tn terms of order, i, comparative site, we know that ned ‘Clearly tha correspondence & not 1-1 since both 2 and 3 correspond to thesingl element We sometimes refer to such a crrespondnce se manyeto-on. ‘With respect to the above notations the singloheaded arrows (in contrast to the double-headed nes appearing previously) imply that the correspondence ie not neeaarily one-one. The symbolism is Intended to eonvey the notion of «one-way stec ‘The notation on the right ia the more conventional method of representing functional vals, Ax withthe arom deve, the expres fon (1) — a may be iaterprted as manning that the function / tteocites the clement I in ih the erent ain 7. To represet a fet of diferent funetions, one may use numerical subscripts as Son fay Joy cern ov ter subserpts In Se depending on convenience ‘One may also use difereat letters, suchas fg, b, and so forth All ofthe representations wil appear ia the segue ‘Though ur defiton of fanetion requires that there bean stgn- rent for every clament ofS, i a nat necessary tha all of 7 be ia- eludod.* A function ofthe type indented roay match all three ele- ‘meats of S witha single element of. ‘This another fneton ia Ita 24a Se ie lle Tne adenine feel nap dma Whabet Pattee astappeg ae Soot ead SGM UR Set 30 Still another function ie fa) = $0) = 6 0) = 0 fg) =o $2) => £50) = 4 and so forth, ‘Wenow ask theimmportant question, “How many diferent functions tre therefor our particular sts?” For notational convenience we could condense the ita fellows: From th above one ean deduce that te numberof posible funstons 528, which coincidentally ia 2 ‘Though thi single example would by no means furnish exhaustive evidence, it does suggest 8 plausible efnition for exponentiation Before making an explicit statement, however, let's onader «second sample. Take the ste K and L where K= (9 and Lo (ey2) Suppose we now wish to examine all the possible funetions on K with values in (We may’ se the abbreviated expreation, "Tancions om K tL.) A tow ofthese re h@=2 Aeo=v joes LO=v AO== pO=2 Asan exorcise, complete the lit! How many funetions are there? If ‘you haven't lft any out, the total thould be 9, Note als that ont ‘For supportive ammunition let b= (@be4) and d 5 2,3)Determine the number of pasble functions on Z 10 BM. Tt may be a Tie tedious to list them ll, but you ean, by applying some com- binatoral know-how, come up with the answer 81 "Now reverse the situation. Determine the number of fonctions on A to In thi cae the numb should be 64. Here again we observe (with eas surprise) that a snd he ‘Twoens emerge: one, ther may bea definite connection between funeions and exponentiation; two, it may make a significant dif ‘ence which st ia whic. ‘All ofthis ompelingly suggest the following definition. efintion: Let be ost with cardinal number m and et Tbe a set ‘wth erdinal mer m.‘hen i the cardinal mumber of the seo ( poaible functions om S wih elute iT. “There are three things to keepin mind: (2) The element ofthe new et under eoasdertion are functions; @) The exponent isthe cardinal ‘numberof the wet on whieh the function is applied (8) The base Cardinal number ofthe set of pousble values which the function fnvurocs Tn moce tecnica! language, the exponent represents the Cardinal numberof the soalled domain ofthe Tunetion, the base Feprestts the cardinal umber ofthe range ‘Suppose we now let Sethe st (ob) and let 7 = (0,1). ‘Then the et of functions on $t P will have cardinal number 2°. A aam- pling ofthese Functions a0 a0 at br bo bo e710 eet Without ereting any confusion one could alo lit the above fune- tions a triples inthe following way: 019 G00 G00 ‘That we might consider he function wt a the et fall triples formed with the numbers O and I. As antiipaed, cere would be 8 ofthese. 1 the set 5, on the other hand, contained the five elements {o, 0,6 d#), the function eet could be represented asa st of all 82 oath “quntuplt," one of which might have the form 1,01, Indicating, inthis ese that 0, D1, 40, dt, et low many ofthese would there be? An exellent answers 2,028, 10, THE CARDINAL NUMBER 2** ‘As you may or may not have suspected, we rein the proces of ‘wollng up fora major thrust. Te acensnow appropiate to face head ‘ona question as to the meaing of os By definition, i isthe cardinal numberof the st ofall fnetions ‘ona countably infinite st with values in tof two elements. For ‘ich sate we might jut ax wel choowe the et Pof al postive Integers ‘nd the set 7 consisting, as above ofthe elameats 0 and 1 “a the notation we have just boon sg, one ach function could be represeated, for example, as 4,0, 1,1,0,0,0,1,0,1,--9 where the sequence of sand 1's, in whatever arrangement thay hap- ‘en tobe for this parteular function, continues indefinitely. Or, et Us aay, the parentheate contain a countably innit clletion of O's aad. Having ssertained the goneal appearace of our function set, itis any to etaish a 1-1 correspondence between this et and the xt of fil nonterminating decimals, with digit coninting of ony 1's and ('. Infact, the corespondence canbe simply obtained by removing the commas and inserting © pered. ‘Thus the above sump would correspond to 011000101 hich implies that the et ofall possible express of hi form bas ‘the same cardinality a the et of fanetions on P to (0 1) ‘But every real number in the interval (0,1) ean be expressed in the base 2 system by mean ofa diferet expansion of O' and 1's. [1 the reader haa had Tinted oF no experince with nuterical notation 58sings bas of 2 called variously the dyadic or binary estem of nota- ‘on, it isstongy auguestod that bit esaarch be dove in this are. Ts not feasible to elaborate onthe subject in this particular study ‘Weshall merely give afew illustrative examples convey the general en ‘Binary notation uses the number 2 a8 bate, jst asthe decimal system uses the number 10. In decimal notation, for example, the symbol 534 stands for 5-107 + 3-10-4410" Likewie, the tymbol 54 would ndiate Bae ahe o wry 4.0) 44-10 Inne stan, heb (11 and or Ee euagias o 7 Aa tier eo (ody = C2 429 4 OD +2, oF 1 or a postive number lss than 1, the binary systom uss point in thesamemunner asin the decimal aystem. Thus ia binary we have am=}eg 0-27 (18a deca ve come teSeded or WIYF+ OR) +r) tar) (6575 in dois. 1k in clear tht the above two quantities could ako be written at (4100-95. and (101100 vith th dots sqifying »contination of 0's! ‘Since, as indicted before, every real numbar inthe interval (0,1) Isa diferent binary expansion ofthis ype, it cer thatthe a of hoa th rade be pase wih ngrig anette the nary ten smth ne opm th mal ey hav 1 kee pasa he ‘Bove deren nh oo eal numbers in 0, 2) eam be put in 1-1 correspondence witha rab- fet of the et af ll such hinry expansions Sine, furthermore, the et (0,1) has cardinality C, we nove aoardingly that. cs ‘On the other and, each infinite decimal expansion ofthe form 401101 «>» represents a diferent real number inthe interval 0,1). ‘Ths ie olows that set of cardinality 2 i in 1-1 corespondence witha sbeet ofa set with cardinality €. Hence mse "Therefore, it may be assertad, ung the corollary othe Beran ‘Theorem (eee page 42), that mee. 11, AN ENLARGEMENT PROCESS We have ndes arrived ata rather momentos conlision, Tt has ‘een infact discovered tat set having eardinality ean bein fence, “enlarged” through exponentiation. Sines we aseady Lnow hat Ry < Gi avident that Rec. In words, we have come upon an aithmete proces fr obtaining such bn enlargement ofthe countably innite cardinal number, ‘The Inscapable query now confronts ws, Would the same bol for any transite cardinal number, inehiding oe friend €7 "In brie, larger than € tel? If the answer i "Yea," shouldbe clear to the reader that we may have st of kind of chai reaction Something is deftly in the wind! Tt behooves um therfore to ‘make the esentilverfeation. We sball attempt to do this nately for C but for any transite amber Suppose, the, welt be any cardial number whatsoever, Con- sider the cardinal numer Es What is this number? By defaiion (ee page 52) te the cardia number ofthe set of ll fanetions on a set say 5, having cardinality 5, with valu inthe aot 7 = (0,1). 55‘Weshallbagin the job by examining a subect ofthe set ofall the fovetions. Using functional notation, lt s denote by J.» Funtion| ‘on Smhich matches th single clement «with I and all other elements with zr. For example, suppose S wore to contain the elements 9, ¢ 17.4)6 405 and pecaps others aswell Then in aymbala Oh 10 0 =9, $00) = 0, ‘dso forth. Thus, might lack something ike (00,0 1,0,0,0,- “Another fonction, fy, for example, matches the element ¢ with 1 sd all obers with sao, ‘That HO = 0 HO=% 1) =0, HO=0, MO=%, =O, 10) = 0, andeoon In similar manner we define funetions fy fy fr Ju owt © sab seri to go with each element in S. It a evident that this set of funetions doesnot constitute al poaible functions on 5 to 7. There 's for example, fnetion which matches at last two elements of $ with 1 Henee we are considering a subset ofthe seta ll onetions, in fact, a proper one. ‘But thee isan obvious 1-1 correspondence between functions of the type andthe set of loments ofS. (Slatch ubseip with are- sponding element?) Thus we can ser that asa S00) Teremains, then, to show that Fie not equal 192% whence t would follow that Fis actully Tes than 2. We sal rst anime that there {4 1-1 eorrepondence between the at of all possible funeions en ‘Sto 0,1) and theaet Stat. We could designate such a correspon: ‘ence ae flowy: Lat be the function wish eoreponde to the el ‘mento tg eoreepond tothe elmeat f, and yo forth. If ou err. spondence isto be 1, then the st of g's mnt se all poaible functions, We bal try to show that it doesa't ow might one do this? By Winking up a finetion which couldn't possy be any ofthe ', but which iil logitimatefunetion on ‘Sto (0,1). Suppose we construct a function h which behaves a follows: For any element ein Slt he) = Of (a) = 1 (where is the hypothotical corspondent to). On the other hand, Re) = 11.) = 0 6 In nee tant quite clear what the funtion hsctualy frm the above description, it might help to iusrae in terms of fite ‘rample. Take asst with thas Clements Lat $= ty, ‘Now assume (though the assumption looks bit absunt in this instance) a 1-1 corespondence betwen S sod th se fal onetions on Sto (0,1). This implies that ther are only three uch functions, which we may designate us| ow, then, do we construct the function AY We fat investigate the funtion pean applied to the element =, We know that g(2) amu either equal or 0. We simply, then, let M2) have the value hich 2) doesnot have. Similarly fr hy) examine the second fune- TF 9) = 1, Jet) = 05 if of) = 0, Wt NG) = 1. Do the same with respect to h() and 9). Since we donot presume to know {st what the individual g functions may be, we cannot exhibit h ‘explicitly, On the other hand, we do know Ut no matter what the g funtion may be, heh fanetion must be diferent, in one resent et eat, from aay of then. 1 there any Kngring doubt, let's be more specie. lt a= 1, w= 0, aed = 1 wo) 1, G1, os) =0 2) = 0, a) = a) = 0 [Now describe the funeton ‘We hope your answer was He) =, A) =O, HA) = ‘Ther iano (0, 0,1) function among the gs. Tt should now be clear that h would alo be diferent fom all he ¢74no matter what or how large th original sat $ might be. From Srhich follows thatthe g set doe not contain ll fonctions, contrary to hypothesn "Since the 9 set represented any posable 1-1 cme. pondence there must not be any euch anil Wherefore bet sid that for any cardinal number & kee a12, CARDINAL NUMBERS LARGER THAN ¢ ‘We have come «long journey from the orginal youngsters! debate on the question ofa lanent number, But perhaps, ina seme, we have ‘rrved ful eycle back to much the same positon. Whether it be “Mire, Miro on the wall” othe sou-sarcing query of young Archimere, the question, “What isthe largeat cardinal number of ‘all gets the eame comeuppance! ‘There isn't any largest. For suppor the ages exinal number is 4 “killon™ What, then, about aii ‘There isan interesting alternative to the notion of 2. We can axriveat this by going bac, fit to Sule caes. Suppo we consider the ae S= bd tnd wish to determine all posible subsets. Teis an accepted fact that the cpty et, 9, i eonsidered to bea subset ofall seta. For if we ‘examine the definition of a subsot, we infer that a set isa subset of set Sif T doce nat contain any element which i notin S. Now ‘ppl this in respec to 9 and. ‘We have already accepted the fact that any sta subset of tal. Henoe the cllection ofall subsets of (a, 6) may be dnplayed ax D% {0 We (, (di eh, te, (hd ‘There soem tobe 8 subsets. Furthermore, § = 2°. But let us wait before jumping to conelisons, Suppose we look at another, and per bape more ingenious, may of indicating subst of given se, sty of thre elementa| Let the symbol (011), for example, means subst of (0, ¢) which omits the fat element but includes the other to. Thus (O11) = {4}, (01) = (@,¢), and (100) = (6). ‘ow, then, would or eomplet st of subsets look? What about (000, 400), (10), (oon) ay, Gop, @m, am Surely we've sean something like this before. Tt lok ik the oto ll unetions on (be £0 (0, 1). “There is no need to labor the point further. We ean now supply ‘the alterative defistion of the enedinal number 2, 8 nepriingy is ale the cardinal number ofthe et fal posbe subsets of st with cardinality Again we've ssubatiitoamwer tothe question ‘bout the “argest” cardinal number “kiln.” Tako a ot with a “tilion” elements, Then ind the total numberof subsets How big is this number? Pechaps we cant quitesny, but we do know that it is “coviouy” larger than a "klion™ ‘Many lous threads have bean lt dangling i this bre introduc- tion to transite mathematics. Many questions have doubles bora Jet unanswered. We have not said anything fr example, about am Weknow that itis larger than My, Why? Because set with cardinal number 2s larger than 8p andsuch set eanbe put in 1 corespon- nce witha suet of a ae with cardinality C*.,‘There remains, however, the question of whether or ot C™ is larger than € el ‘This you can ty to annrer. And many other qustions alse. We hope not ony that you wl try, but also that you wil sucoed. Good ek 13, SUMMARY Since the presentation of thi materia has been somewhat informal, rmore in the manner of @ narrative than a oareflly documented sequence of lgieal consequence, it might be well to clwe with fommary outline of what we have accomplished, This you may Subsequently we ase handy rference. ‘The summary evlineolows herewith ‘The nonexistence of a “largest” positive integer implis that the set of positive intoges goes on forever. ence the total “number” ‘of pottve integers cannct tll bean Integer Inst, therefore, be something eles rengfrile member. The question is "Caa any type ‘of mathematiesbe applied to such numbers?" Furthermore ean there ‘bemore than one traafite number? end i 2, how ean the num bors be dtarmined, clasifd, combine, andi posible, compared? ‘The gl of dealing with these problems s made pon rough Ue use of a branch of et theory. First, we define the cardinal number ofa seta follows: etinition: st std to hae cardinal umber mf and only ‘he cement of canbe pli T-1 eorerpondenc withthe a of {egere (1,2, 3 =o 8), there mi ponie lgr. 0Immediately it won that the fundamental concept of a -1 corre spondence between sete atthe Beart of the enterprise. ‘From here wa prooted to place the notin of lant on x mathe mately workable footing as follows Denton: A at i frit fond oly ft cardinal mabe isa postive inleger "A non-omply ol wabih nol ils called ine, Hlre we se that the conoept of nit et i prediata onthe im posit of establishing a certain type of 1-1 eorespondence "The st of porte integers proving to be infiite, we assign this fet a rangle cardinal number ealed Ry Tquivlonce of ots then daind by te aterton that Desinition: Two ade are eal fond only if ter elements can be pul in T-1corepondence with each or. {Ie follows tht any set whch is equivalent to the st of positive ia- ‘gers shall ewe be thought of shaving the cardinal number ‘This, thea, inks together thre base notions: Correspondence "The same cardinal number From the establishment of 1-1 eorespondeace between the st of all patie integers and the set of even postive integers, there fllowe fn tlternative definition of infinite a: Definition: An init set i ne which cam be pl T-1 cre: spondence with a proper subset of io. ‘Thus the existence of a 1-1 correspondence between ones, sy S, snd a proper abet of another se, ey 7, dose not guarantor that $ ‘hs cardial number les than Ul of 7, ait das in the inte ease ‘We do know, however, that in wh insane the cardinal numberof Sis ee than o ual oat of 7, La, N(S) NCD). ‘An important thoorem on equivalence is Une Beastein Theorem, svhich implies, In elfec,ehat NCS) S M(H) and i NCT) < N(S), then NGS) = MIM. ‘Whence we obtain the eitaron for comparing exrdinal numbers NGS) < NT) bat NCD) $ N(, then NO) < NCD. Bauivalence 1 "The ombol eet a ha oa" o (On an investigatory bast oe arive at an important eonssion, namely, that here are many seemingly larger sets whish also have cardinal number, Among thes rete eto al integers, the at of ‘al rational number, and, what's nore, the et fal elgebvaie nae bers. It is further entablshed that Nos the malt cardinal umber since every infite et contanaa auboe wth cardinal mamber Ny. Sete ‘th cardinal umber, ae ealed countable ‘There fllows the sarc fora st with urna numb lager than Ny. One euch ert curas cut tobe the set of al real numbers in the lateral, 1], to which we asign the eardinal number €,- Thus Reece ‘Many more sets prove tobe equivalent to this on, ncading the st ofall points in ay fite interval, or half ine, of for that master, {ul fine. We also deduce thatthe set ofall point ina plane as the cardinal number ‘Before the qusst for cardinal number larger tha € ean be under taken, some law af arithmetic for cardinal numbers mat be estab Fished. ‘Those, while designed to inclod various trite numbers, ‘aust not be ia confit with existing computational conreations fr postive integer ‘Accordingly, we define two operations on cardinal numbers a8 fellows: Deion (1) Ifo and » re amy tx cardinal number, then the sin mbm Ss the cardinal sumer of any al which ithe won of any fo dgjnt sae having cardinal numbers m ond respects (2) The product mm i the cardinal nuber of ony st which ete Cartan product (ie, et of all ordered pairs with an element from cach at) of any ta shaving cardinal numbers mand A key factor ia th above definition is the notion tat any sum oF product depends not on a particular stor ets bt merely on any ets Daving the requ cardinal numbers. Thus any representative fom ‘clas of evant sata may be elected inthe determination of © tven sum or product ‘On the basis ofthese definitions we may make further observations Ain ond maltipiaion are bath aneiative and comma lipliction i dail ner addition. 6For finite erdinal mmber the wna propertis of postive integors sre preserved, However, i the cap of tana ardinal nurbers there iva considerable amount of unconventional behavior. Thiscan ‘be summarised ax follows: nies Git cardinal number, then Retna ky Rothe Ry Room eR) Ro Nye Ry Cta=e CHN=c CHE Comee C-Mac ce By associativity, the sum and produc rerlta may be expanded to include any finite number of terms or products. Likewie iti shown ts Ret Rebs Re fora countable infty of term “A definition follows for exponentiation which yields some very important rests Definition: Lat S be owt with cardinal numer mand lt be ost smth cardinal nunberm. Thon Ue cardinal umber of thes of fl factions om wth value in 7 (nthe bait of thie definition we arrive at a fundamental relation- ship, namely oe ‘More signieant the final eonlsion tht for any arial number k beat ‘This provides us with a sound basis for the olimate assertion that therein target cardinal number Tecan alo be shown that for any st with cardinal number k he ‘0 ofall posible subsets has cardinal number 2%. ‘Thus we are fur- ‘ished with an alternative way of “enlarging” cardinal number by ans of subete 14, EOoUE Mathematicians have long boon tussing with a celebrated un- selved problem involving transite number. We have conclusively e shown that fy <.€. But nowhere could the sterton be mde that © isthe “eat” number larger than Ny Ist posible to contrast st ‘howe cardinal number f greater than Ny and les than €? "Do not be dsouraged if you exnnot find an immediate answer. No on else hasbeen able to ether! "The epi of tranfnite mumbers as many more verses, Thee isa very full and challenging companion pics, namely, th aay of ‘the socalled ordinal numbers This we mut coualy invite you to exploreBibliography Birkhod, Garett and MacLane, Sunder. A Survey of Modern Alpeira’ New York: The Macmillan Company, 1983 Bristl James D. The Concept oa Puetion. Boston: D.C. Heath ‘and Company, 1963, Cantor, Georg. Contributions to te Pounding ofthe Thor of ‘ranafnite Numbers. New York: Dover Publicstions, Ine, 1016 Courant, Richard and Robbins, Herbert. What Ze Medhenaties? ‘Loedon’ Oxford Unversity Pres, 1841 Gofimnn, Caspar. Real Functions, Now York: Rinhart and Company, 1983. Herberg, Theodore and Bristl, James, Elementary Mathematiat “Analysis. Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1062 Kamke, B. Theory of Sele. Translated by Frederick Bagenihl Now York: Dover Publications, 1950 Koratowshi, K. Fnvaducion lo Set Theory and Topology. ‘Trans lated by Leo F. Boron. Reading, Massachusetts; Addison Weeley Publishing Company, 102, Answers Positive Rationls Pe Intages 6 » 2» ry o Page28 1.18 2.10 2.14 4.20 5.95 Page 3. Poyoomil with bight 4 PB tee aaa dee hate Polypotil with ight Ae Ppa Aaa Bhs BH HL Hh ae ats, ad ae bedi PE Peel ea end tie, toon Pee Setar 1arta2—2ebh2—38 Aditoal eal roots nt previous otaioed fom h = 2,3, and 4 <3, —} — V8, VB v3, §— VE, 4 4 P+ VS, ih VWs Page 39. 1. (Pe Hof J (PB of Ks Ge (Bd of Rea mike es