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2. Well-ordering
Definition 4. A linear ordering < of a set P is called a well-ordering if every
non-empty subset of P has a minimum.
Lemma 1. Suppose that (W, <) is a well-ordered set and f : W → W is an in-
creasing function, then f (x) ≥ x for all x ∈ W .
1
2 ORDINAL NUMBERS
3. Ordinal numbers
Definition 5. A set T is said to be transitive if every element of T is a subset of
T.
Definition 6. A set is called an ordinal number or an ordinal if it is transitive and
well-ordered by ∈.
The class of ordinals is denoted by O.
Lemma 3. (a) the empty set 0 = ∅ is an ordinal;
(b) If β is an ordinal and α ∈ β, then α is the initial segment of β given by α,
and α is an ordinal;
(c) If α 6= β are different ordinals and α ⊂ β, then α ∈ β;
(d) If α and β are ordinals, then either α ⊂ β or β ⊂ α.
ORDINAL NUMBERS 3
Proof. Suppose, for contradiction, that there exists a well-ordered set W not iso-
morphic to any ordinals. Then by Theorem 1, each ordinal is isomorphic to an
initial segment of W .
By Lemma 2 and 3, we can define an injective function f as the set of all ordered
pairs (x, α) such that x ∈ W and α is an ordinal isomorphic to W (x). Since ran(f )
contains all ordinals, the class of ordinals O is a set. But that is impossible, because
by definition O would be an ordinal itself, which leads to O ∈ O.
6. Ordinal arithmetic
We define arithmetic operations of ordinals through transfinite recursion.
Definition 9 (Addition). For all ordinal numbers α,
(i) α + 0 = α;
(ii) α + (β + 1) = (α + β) + 1 for all β;
(iii) α + β = limξ→β (α + ξ) for all non-zero limit β.
Definition 10 (Multiplication). For all ordinal numbers α,
(i) α · 0 = 0;
(ii) α · (β + 1) = α · β + α for all β;
(iii) α · β = limξ→β α · ξ for all non-zero limit β.
Definition 11 (Exponentiation). For all ordinal numbers α,
(i) α0 = 1;
(ii) αβ+1 = αβ · α for all β;
(iii) αβ = limξ→β αξ for all non-zero limit β.
Lemma 5. For a fixed α,
(a) α + β is a normal function in β;
(b) α · β is a normal function in β, provided that α > 0;
(c) αβ is a normal function in β, provided that α > 1.
Observe that 0 · β = 0 and 1β = 1 for all β. Also observe that 0β = 0 if β is a
successor and 0β = 1 otherwise.
Lemma 6. For all ordinals α, β and γ,
(a) α + (β + γ) = (α + β) + γ;
(b) α · (β + γ) = α · β + α · γ;
(c) α · (β · γ) = (α · β) · γ;
6 ORDINAL NUMBERS
(d) αβ · αγ = αβ+γ ;
(e) (αβ )γ = αβ·γ .
Lemma 7. For all finite ordinals a and b,
(a) a + b = b + a;
(b) a · b = b · a;
(c) a + b is increasing in a;
(d) a · b is increasing in a, provided that b > 0;
(e) ab is increasing in a, provided that b > 0.
Lemma 5, 6 and 7 can be proved by induction.
Lemma 8. Some ordinary properties of ordinal sums and products:
(a) If α < β, then there exists a unique δ such that α + δ = β;
(b) If α > 0, then for each γ there exists a unique β and a unique ρ < α such
that γ = α · β + ρ.
Proof. (a) Fix α. Suppose, for contradiction, that β > α is the least ordinal
for which α + δ 6= β for all ordinals δ. β is a limit ordinal, for otherwise
β = α + (δ + 1) for some δ. Put δ = sup{ξ : α + ξ < β}. Then δ is a limit
ordinal. Hence α + δ = sup{α + ξ : α + ξ < β} = β, a contradiction.
Uniqueness is by monotonicity of addition.
(b) Let β be the greatest ordinal such that α · β ≤ γ.
Theorem 6 (Cantor’s normal form theorem). Every ordinal α > 0 can be repre-
sented uniquely in the form (called the normal form of α)
α = ω β1 · k1 + · · · + ω βn · kn ,
where n ≥ 1, α ≥ β1 > · · · > βn , and k1 , . . . , kn are finite ordinals.
Proof. We prove the existence of a normal form by induction on α > 1. The base
case is 1 = ω 0 · 1. Given α > 1, let β the greatest ordinal such that ω β ≤ α. Then
there exists a unique δ and a unique ρ < ω β such that α = ω β · δ + ρ. Moreover,
δ is finite, for otherwise ω β+1 ≤ α. By the inductive hypothesis, ρ has a normal
form. Hence α has a normal form.
Suppose that ω β1 +1 ≤ α for β1 in some normal form of α. Then
ω β1 · k1 + · · · + ω βn · kn <ω β1 · k1 + · · · + ω βn−1 · kn−1 + ω βn +1
<ω β1 · k1 + · · · + ω βn−1 · (kn−1 + 1)
...
<ω β1 +1 ,
a contradiction. Since β1 is uniquely determined in each normal form, each ordinal
has a unique normal form.