Johnnas Villamor BSED II-B Math 116

Which has a larger size, (0 , 1) or (−∞,+ ∞)?

Firstly, we know the fact that the two are infinitely many numbers between the two
sets. However, we must figure out on how infinitely many elements are in the two infinite set.
We must know the fact that infinite has different sizes. There is what we call a countably
infinite and an uncountably infinite. Let us elaborate their differences. If the components of a
set can be arranged in perfect agreement with the set of natural numbers, then the set is
countably infinite. It means that we can count all the elements of the set even though it may
take forever, any specific element will be reached in a certain amount of time. When a set has
too many components to correlate one-to-one with the set of natural numbers, it is said to be
uncountable. It means that no matter you do there is no way you will be able to count the
elements on the set.
Moreover (0 , 1) and (−∞ ,+ ∞) are both an uncountable numbers since we cannot put
them on a one-to-one correspondence. Let’s have an example:

{0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10…}

{1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11…}
It is obvious to see that each element in the set has a unique relationship. We can
clearly state that the set of even and positive integer has the same size. Since we can have a
map pairing the two sets. Hence, (0 , 1) and (−∞ ,+∞ ) has the same size since there will exist
a mapping that goes from each element (0 , 1) to something different in real numbers. The
cardinality of the elements of these two is of the same size.