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Questions tagged [well-orders]

For questions about well-orderings and well-ordered sets. Depending on the question, consider adding also some of the tags (elementary-set-theory), (set-theory), (order-theory), (ordinals).

5 votes
3 answers
488 views

Motivation of inventing concept of well-ordered set?

I've started studying set theory for a while. I understand what is an ordered sets but i still fail to see what motivated mathematicians to invent these concept. Could you please enlightment me ? ...
0 votes
0 answers
55 views

Is every strict ordering by inclusion a well-ordering?

Given a set $s$ which is transitive and completely ordered by inclusion, that is, such that $z \in s \rightarrow z \subset s$ and $\left( x \in s \wedge y \in s \wedge x \neq y \right) \rightarrow \...
1 vote
1 answer
72 views

Is there something missing in Jech's proof of Zermelo's Well-Ordering Theorem?

Here is the proof from p. 48 of the Millennium Edition, corrected 4th printing 2006: My question: how do we know that there is any ordinal $\theta$ such that $A=\{a_\xi\,\colon\xi<\alpha\}$? ...
3 votes
2 answers
98 views

Proving the shortlex ordering is a well-ordering

Let $(A,<)$ be a nonempty linearly ordered set, and let $\operatorname{Seq}(A)$ denote the set of finite sequences of elements of $A$. That is, $f\in\operatorname{Seq}(A)$ is a function $f:n\to A$, ...
0 votes
1 answer
88 views

Iterative argument in math proofs

I am reading proof of subspace of $\mathbb{R^n}$ has a basis. And most of them like this(classic proof): let $S\subset\mathbb{R^n}$ ,if $v_1\neq0$ and $<v_1>=S$, we finished proof, otherwise, we ...
2 votes
1 answer
169 views

When does a set of real numbers have a minimal element?

I Believe the answer is when the set is closed in the sense of standard topology (we exclude $\mathbb{R}$) itself. Examples: Point sets have a minimum, and they are closed. Closed interval also have ...
4 votes
2 answers
1k views

How does well-ordering theorem apply to real numbers if real numbers are not countable?

From what I understand, the well-ordering theorem assumes ANY set can be made well-ordered depending on how you define the ordering. For example, $\mathbb{Z}$ is not well-ordered according to the ...
2 votes
1 answer
85 views

Given two well-orders $\langle A,R \rangle$ and $\langle B,S \rangle$, one of the following holds.

Let $\langle A,R \rangle$ and $\langle B,S \rangle$ be two well-orders, and let $\text{pred}(A,x,R) := \{y \in A \;|\; yRx\}$ and similarly for $\text{pred}(B,z,S)$. It is claimed that one of the ...
1 vote
1 answer
139 views

Definition of limit using ordered variables

Many years ago, when I was at the university, I learned all the theory of limits of a real function of real variable by means of ordered variables. Precisely I was taught to consider a set $\mathrm{O}$...
2 votes
0 answers
106 views

How does one prove without the axiom of choice that the product of a collection of nonempty well-ordered sets is nonempty?

Suppose $\{X_{\alpha}\}_{\alpha\in\mathcal A}$ is an indexed family of nonempty well-ordered sets, where $X_{\alpha}=(E_{\alpha},\le_{\alpha})$ for each $\alpha$. It seems intuitively obvious that we ...
1 vote
1 answer
78 views

Complete iff Compact in Well-Ordered space

Let $T=(S, \leq, \tau)$ a well-ordered set equipped with order topology (defined here). Definition 1: $T$ is called complete iff every non-empty subset of $T$ has a greatest lower bound (inferior) and ...
2 votes
1 answer
127 views

Is the first-order theory of the class of well-ordered sets the same as the first-order theory of the class of ordinals?

Consider the class $K$ of well-ordered sets $(W,\leq)$. Although that class is not first-order axiomatizable, it has an associated first-order theory $Th(K)$. Now consider the class of ordinals $On$, ...
0 votes
1 answer
64 views

Partial order on sets and application of Zorn's Lemma to construct well-ordered subset

I would appreciate help with the following question: Let $(A,<)$ a linear ordered set. a. Let $F\subseteq P(A)$. Prove that the following relation is a partial order in $F$: $X\lhd Y$ for $X,Y\in F$...
1 vote
1 answer
81 views

Any subset of a well-ordered set is isomorphic to an initial segment of this well-ordered set.

I wanted to prove the fact for which I have a sketch of proof: Let $(W,\leq )$ be a well-ordered set and $U$ be a subset of $W$. Then considering the restriction of $\leq $ to $U\times U$, we have ...
2 votes
1 answer
42 views

Are these two notions of weak well-foundedness equivalent?

Background (optional): I have a state transition system $Q$ with two "kinds" of transitions: progress-making ($\delta_P : Q \times \Sigma \rightarrow Q$) and non-progress making ($\delta_N : ...

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