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Questions tagged [cardinals]

This tag is for questions about cardinals and related topics such as cardinal arithmetics, regular cardinals and cofinality. Do not confuse with [large-cardinals] which is a technical concept about strong axioms of infinity.

120 votes
1 answer
10k views

How do we know an $ \aleph_1 $ exists at all?

I have two questions, actually. The first is as the title says: how do we know there exists an infinite cardinal such that there exists no other cardinals between it and $ \aleph_0 $? (We would have ...
anon's user avatar
  • 152k
95 votes
6 answers
48k views

Cardinality of set of real continuous functions

I believe that the set of all $\mathbb{R\to R}$ continuous functions is $\mathfrak c$, the cardinality of the continuum. However, I read in the book "Metric spaces" by Ó Searcóid that set of ...
kennytm's user avatar
  • 7,585
80 votes
6 answers
9k views

Why is $\omega$ the smallest $\infty$?

I am comfortable with the different sizes of infinities and Cantor's "diagonal argument" to prove that the set of all subsets of an infinite set has cardinality strictly greater than the set itself. ...
user avatar
77 votes
1 answer
18k views

Overview of basic results on cardinal arithmetic

Are there some good overviews of basic formulas about addition, multiplication and exponentiation of cardinals (preferably available online)?
65 votes
9 answers
7k views

Refuting the Anti-Cantor Cranks

I occasionally have the opportunity to argue with anti-Cantor cranks, people who for some reason or the other attack the validity of Cantor's diagonalization proof of the uncountability of the real ...
Keshav Srinivasan's user avatar
64 votes
7 answers
17k views

Why is the Continuum Hypothesis (not) true?

I'm making my way through Thomas W Hungerfords's seminal text "Abstract Algebra 2nd Edition w/ Sets, Logics and Categories" where he makes the statement that the Continuum Hypothesis (There does not ...
zetavolt's user avatar
  • 873
56 votes
5 answers
7k views

Doesn't the unprovability of the continuum hypothesis prove the continuum hypothesis? [duplicate]

The Continuum Hypothesis says that there is no set with cardinality between that of the reals and the natural numbers. Apparently, the Continuum Hypothesis can't be proved or disproved using the ...
RothX's user avatar
  • 1,681
56 votes
4 answers
32k views

Cardinality of the set of all real functions of real variable

How does one compute the cardinality of the set of functions $f:\mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ (not necessarily continuous)?
Benji's user avatar
  • 5,910
55 votes
2 answers
9k views

For every infinite $S$, $|S|=|S\times S|$ implies the Axiom of choice

How to prove the following conclusion: [For any infinite set $S$, there exists a bijection $f:S\to S \times S$] implies the Axiom of choice. Can you give a proof without the theory of ordinal numbers.
mathabc's user avatar
  • 581
50 votes
10 answers
8k views

Is symmetric group on natural numbers countable?

I guess it is too difficult a question to ask about the cardinality of $S_{\mathbb{N}}$ so I would like to ask whether it is countable or not. I tried to prove it is uncountable somewhat mimicking ...
user2902293's user avatar
  • 2,679
48 votes
1 answer
982 views

Is there an infinite topological space with only countably many continuous maps to itself?

Now cross-posted to Mathoverflow. Is there an infinite topological space $X$ with only countably many continuous functions to itself? Such a space would have only countably many points because the ...
QuinnLesquimau's user avatar
36 votes
5 answers
16k views

cardinality of all real sequences

I was wondering what the cardinality of the set of all real sequences is. A random search through this site says that it is equal to the cardinality of the real numbers. This is very surprising to me, ...
Vishal Gupta's user avatar
  • 7,014
36 votes
3 answers
42k views

Do the real numbers and the complex numbers have the same cardinality?

So it's easy to show that the rationals and the integers have the same size, using everyone's favorite spiral-around-the-grid. Can the approach be extended to say that the set of complex numbers has ...
Ethan's user avatar
  • 979
36 votes
3 answers
2k views

Does $k+\aleph_0=\mathfrak{c}$ imply $k=\mathfrak{c}$ without the Axiom of Choice?

I'm currently reading a little deeper into the Axiom of Choice, and I'm pleasantly surprised to find it makes the arithmetic of infinite cardinals seem easy. With AC follows the Absorption Law of ...
yunone's user avatar
  • 22.4k
35 votes
3 answers
4k views

Is cardinality a well defined function?

I was wondering if the cardinality of a set is a well defined function, more specifically, does it have a well defined domain and range? One would say you could assign a number to every finite set, ...
Dirkboss's user avatar
  • 461

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