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Difference Hierarchy
In set theory, a branch of mathematics, the difference hierarchy over a pointclass is a hierarchy of larger pointclasses generated by taking differences of sets. If Γ is a pointclass, then the set of differences in Γ is \. In usual notation, this set is denoted by 2-Γ. The next level of the hierarchy is denoted by 3-Γ and consists of differences of three sets: \. This definition can be extended recursively into the transfinite to ''α''-Γ for some ordinal ''α''. In the Borel hierarchy, Felix Hausdorff and Kazimierz Kuratowski proved that the countable In mathematics, a set is countable if either it is finite or it can be made in one to one correspondence with the set of natural numbers. Equivalently, a set is ''countable'' if there exists an injective function from it into the natural number ... levels of the difference hierarchy over Π0''γ'' give Δ0''γ''+1.. See in particulap. 173 References Descriptive set theory Mathematical logic hierarchies {{s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Set Theory
Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies sets, which can be informally described as collections of objects. Although objects of any kind can be collected into a set, set theory, as a branch of mathematics, is mostly concerned with those that are relevant to mathematics as a whole. The modern study of set theory was initiated by the German mathematicians Richard Dedekind and Georg Cantor in the 1870s. In particular, Georg Cantor is commonly considered the founder of set theory. The non-formalized systems investigated during this early stage go under the name of ''naive set theory''. After the discovery of paradoxes within naive set theory (such as Russell's paradox, Cantor's paradox and the Burali-Forti paradox) various axiomatic systems were proposed in the early twentieth century, of which Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory (with or without the axiom of choice) is still the best-known and most studied. Set theory is commonly employed as a foundational ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pointclass
In the mathematical field of descriptive set theory, a pointclass is a collection of sets of points, where a ''point'' is ordinarily understood to be an element of some perfect Polish space. In practice, a pointclass is usually characterized by some sort of ''definability property''; for example, the collection of all open sets in some fixed collection of Polish spaces is a pointclass. (An open set may be seen as in some sense definable because it cannot be a purely arbitrary collection of points; for any point in the set, all points sufficiently close to that point must also be in the set.) Pointclasses find application in formulating many important principles and theorems from set theory and real analysis. Strong set-theoretic principles may be stated in terms of the determinacy of various pointclasses, which in turn implies that sets in those pointclasses (or sometimes larger ones) have regularity properties such as Lebesgue measurability (and indeed universal measurability), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hierarchy (mathematics)
In mathematics, a hierarchy is a set-theoretical object, consisting of a preorder defined on a set. This is often referred to as an ordered set, though that is an ambiguous term that many authors reserve for partially ordered sets or totally ordered sets. The term ''pre-ordered set'' is unambiguous, and is always synonymous with a mathematical hierarchy. The term ''hierarchy'' is used to stress a ''hierarchical'' relation among the elements. Sometimes, a set comes equipped with a natural hierarchical structure. For example, the set of natural numbers N is equipped with a natural pre-order structure, where n \le n' whenever we can find some other number m so that n + m = n'. That is, n' is bigger than n only because we can get to n' from n ''using'' m. This idea can be applied to any commutative monoid. On the other hand, the set of integers Z requires a more sophisticated argument for its hierarchical structure, since we can always solve the equation n + m = n' by writing m = ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Complement (set Theory)
In set theory, the complement of a set , often denoted by (or ), is the set of elements not in . When all sets in the universe, i.e. all sets under consideration, are considered to be members of a given set , the absolute complement of is the set of elements in that are not in . The relative complement of with respect to a set , also termed the set difference of and , written B \setminus A, is the set of elements in that are not in . Absolute complement Definition If is a set, then the absolute complement of (or simply the complement of ) is the set of elements not in (within a larger set that is implicitly defined). In other words, let be a set that contains all the elements under study; if there is no need to mention , either because it has been previously specified, or it is obvious and unique, then the absolute complement of is the relative complement of in : A^\complement = U \setminus A. Or formally: A^\complement = \. The absolute complement of is u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transfinite Number
In mathematics, transfinite numbers are numbers that are " infinite" in the sense that they are larger than all finite numbers, yet not necessarily absolutely infinite. These include the transfinite cardinals, which are cardinal numbers used to quantify the size of infinite sets, and the transfinite ordinals, which are ordinal numbers used to provide an ordering of infinite sets. The term ''transfinite'' was coined by Georg Cantor in 1895, who wished to avoid some of the implications of the word ''infinite'' in connection with these objects, which were, nevertheless, not ''finite''. Few contemporary writers share these qualms; it is now accepted usage to refer to transfinite cardinals and ordinals as infinite numbers. Nevertheless, the term "transfinite" also remains in use. Definition Any finite natural number can be used in at least two ways: as an ordinal and as a cardinal. Cardinal numbers specify the size of sets (e.g., a bag of five marbles), whereas ordinal numbers specify ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ordinal Number
In set theory, an ordinal number, or ordinal, is a generalization of ordinal numerals (first, second, th, etc.) aimed to extend enumeration to infinite sets. A finite set can be enumerated by successively labeling each element with the least natural number that has not been previously used. To extend this process to various infinite sets, ordinal numbers are defined more generally as linearly ordered labels that include the natural numbers and have the property that every set of ordinals has a least element (this is needed for giving a meaning to "the least unused element"). This more general definition allows us to define an ordinal number \omega that is greater than every natural number, along with ordinal numbers \omega + 1, \omega + 2, etc., which are even greater than \omega. A linear order such that every subset has a least element is called a well-order. The axiom of choice implies that every set can be well-ordered, and given two well-ordered sets, one is isomo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Borel Sets
In mathematics, a Borel set is any set in a topological space that can be formed from open sets (or, equivalently, from closed sets) through the operations of countable union, countable intersection, and relative complement. Borel sets are named after Émile Borel. For a topological space ''X'', the collection of all Borel sets on ''X'' forms a σ-algebra, known as the Borel algebra or Borel σ-algebra. The Borel algebra on ''X'' is the smallest σ-algebra containing all open sets (or, equivalently, all closed sets). Borel sets are important in measure theory, since any measure defined on the open sets of a space, or on the closed sets of a space, must also be defined on all Borel sets of that space. Any measure defined on the Borel sets is called a Borel measure. Borel sets and the associated Borel hierarchy also play a fundamental role in descriptive set theory. In some contexts, Borel sets are defined to be generated by the compact sets of the topological ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felix Hausdorff
Felix Hausdorff ( , ; November 8, 1868 – January 26, 1942) was a German mathematician who is considered to be one of the founders of modern topology and who contributed significantly to set theory, descriptive set theory, measure theory, and functional analysis. Life became difficult for Hausdorff and his family after Kristallnacht in 1938. The next year he initiated efforts to emigrate to the United States, but was unable to make arrangements to receive a research fellowship. On 26 January 1942, Felix Hausdorff, along with his wife and his sister-in-law, died by suicide by taking an overdose of veronal, rather than comply with German orders to move to the Endenich camp, and there suffer the likely implications, about which he held no illusions. Life Childhood and youth Hausdorff's father, the Jewish merchant Louis Hausdorff (1843–1896), moved with his young family to Leipzig in the autumn of 1870, and over time worked at various companies, including a linen-and cotton g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kazimierz Kuratowski
Kazimierz Kuratowski (; 2 February 1896 – 18 June 1980) was a Polish mathematician and logician. He was one of the leading representatives of the Warsaw School of Mathematics. Biography and studies Kazimierz Kuratowski was born in Warsaw, (then part of Congress Poland controlled by the Russian Empire), on 2 February 1896, into an assimilated Jewish family. He was a son of Marek Kuratow, a barrister, and Róża Karzewska. He completed a Warsaw secondary school, which was named after general Paweł Chrzanowski. In 1913, he enrolled in an engineering course at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, in part because he did not wish to study in Russian; instruction in Polish was prohibited. He completed only one year of study when the outbreak of World War I precluded any further enrolment. In 1915, Russian forces withdrew from Warsaw and Warsaw University was reopened with Polish as the language of instruction. Kuratowski restarted his university education there the same year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Countable
In mathematics, a set is countable if either it is finite or it can be made in one to one correspondence with the set of natural numbers. Equivalently, a set is ''countable'' if there exists an injective function from it into the natural numbers; this means that each element in the set may be associated to a unique natural number, or that the elements of the set can be counted one at a time, although the counting may never finish due to an infinite number of elements. In more technical terms, assuming the axiom of countable choice, a set is ''countable'' if its cardinality (its number of elements) is not greater than that of the natural numbers. A countable set that is not finite is said countably infinite. The concept is attributed to Georg Cantor, who proved the existence of uncountable sets, that is, sets that are not countable; for example the set of the real numbers. A note on terminology Although the terms "countable" and "countably infinite" as defined here are quite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Descriptive Set Theory
In mathematical logic, descriptive set theory (DST) is the study of certain classes of "well-behaved" subsets of the real line and other Polish spaces. As well as being one of the primary areas of research in set theory, it has applications to other areas of mathematics such as functional analysis, ergodic theory, the study of operator algebras and group actions, and mathematical logic. Polish spaces Descriptive set theory begins with the study of Polish spaces and their Borel sets. A Polish space is a second-countable topological space that is metrizable with a complete metric. Heuristically, it is a complete separable metric space whose metric has been "forgotten". Examples include the real line \mathbb, the Baire space \mathcal, the Cantor space \mathcal, and the Hilbert cube I^. Universality properties The class of Polish spaces has several universality properties, which show that there is no loss of generality in considering Polish spaces of certain restricted for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
