Skip to main content

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).

148 votes
2 answers
39k views

Is there a known well ordering of the reals?

So, from what I understand, the axiom of choice is equivalent to the claim that every set can be well ordered. A set is well ordered by a relation, $R$ , if every subset has a least element. My ...
Seamus's user avatar
  • 4,045
11 votes
4 answers
2k views

Without appealing to choice, can we prove that if $X$ is well-orderable, then so too is $2^X$?

Without appealing to the axiom of choice, it can be shown that (Proposition:) if $X$ is well-orderable, then $2^X$ is totally-orderable. Question: can we show the stronger result that if $X$ is well-...
goblin GONE's user avatar
  • 68.1k
13 votes
1 answer
670 views

Why do we need "canonical" well-orders?

(I asked this question on MO, https://mathoverflow.net/questions/443117/why-do-we-need-canonical-well-orders) Von-Neumann ordinals can be thought of "canonical" well-orders, Indeed every ...
Vivaan Daga's user avatar
  • 5,704
1 vote
3 answers
4k views

A way to well-order real line

How is well-ordering in real line possible? I know that the axiom of choice provides possible well-ordering, but intuitively, this does not seem to make sense. How can you compare 1.111111.... and 1....
user1894's user avatar
  • 669
12 votes
1 answer
4k views

Totally ordering the power set of a well ordered set.

Let's say I take a set $S$, where $S$ can be well ordered. From what I understand, one can use that well ordering to totally order $\mathscr{P}(S)$. How does a body actually use the well ordering of $...
Kangin's user avatar
  • 123
6 votes
2 answers
2k views

Well-ordering theorem and second-order logic

I am confused by this sentence in the Wikipedia article for "Well-ordering theorem": ...the well-ordering theorem is equivalent to the axiom of choice, in the sense that either one together with ...
user100380's user avatar
0 votes
3 answers
1k views

There is a well ordering of the class of all finite sequences of ordinals

I am trying to solve this exercise from Jech's book on set theory: Ex. 3.6: There is a well ordering of the class of all finite sequences of ordinals such that for each $\alpha$, the set of all ...
A student's user avatar
  • 517
13 votes
1 answer
625 views

Why isn't this a well ordering of $\{A\subseteq\mathbb N\mid A\text{ is infinite}\}$?

So, to explain the title, I'm referring to the necessity of the axiom of choice in the existence of a well ordering on reals, or any uncountable set. Now, while tweaking some sets, I came across this ...
Sohan Biswas's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
340 views

Hessenberg power of ordinals

According to these notes on ordinal arithmetic: The Hessenberg sum $\alpha + \beta$ is the supremum of ordinals that are isomorphic to some well-order on $\alpha \sqcup \beta = (\{0\} \times \alpha) \...
user76284's user avatar
  • 6,037
6 votes
2 answers
729 views

Well-orderings of $\mathbb R$ without Choice

The question is about well-ordering $\mathbb R$ in ZF. Without the Axiom of Choice (AC) there exists a set that is not well-ordered. This could occur two ways: a) there are models of ZF in which $\...
user4894's user avatar
  • 3,009
5 votes
1 answer
562 views

Prove that no ordinal is an element of itself

I would like to show that the successor set of an ordinal: $s(\alpha) =\alpha \cup\{\alpha\}$ is an ordinal. To do so, I need to show that that $S(\alpha)$ is strictly well-ordered by $\in$. I can't ...
Jhon Doe's user avatar
  • 2,922
3 votes
2 answers
190 views

Given $S \hookrightarrow T$ construct $U ≈ T$ disjoint from $S$ in Z set theory?

I was recently thinking about the fact (in ZFC) that, given a (first-order) structure $A$ that embeds into another structure $B$, there is some structure $C$ isomorphic to $B$ such that the domain of $...
user21820's user avatar
  • 59.2k
2 votes
1 answer
511 views

Prove the comparability theorem for well ordered sets using transfinite induction

My question is about the same proof discussed here, but I am confused about more than this question addresses. In Naive Set Theory, Halmos phrases the comparability theorem as follows: The ...
G Field's user avatar
  • 23
11 votes
4 answers
1k views

Explicit well-ordering of $\mathbb{N}^{\mathbb{N}}$

Is there an explicit well-ordering of $\mathbb{N}^{\mathbb{N}}:=\{g:\mathbb{N}\rightarrow \mathbb{N}\}$? I've been thinking about that for awhile but nothing is coming to my mind. My best idea is ...
ragrigg's user avatar
  • 1,675
9 votes
3 answers
2k views

How to define a well-order on $\mathbb R$?

I would like to define a well-order on $\mathbb R$. My first thought was, of course, to use $\leq$. Unfortunately, the result isn't well-founded, since $(-\infty,0)$ is an example of a subset that ...
Rudy the Reindeer's user avatar

15 30 50 per page
1
2 3 4 5