TheInfoList

In
mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmetic and number theory), formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities and their changes (cal ...
, an uncountable set (or uncountably infinite set) is an
infinite set In set theory illustrating the intersection (set theory), intersection of two set (mathematics), sets. Set theory is a branch of mathematical logic that studies Set (mathematics), sets, which informally are collections of objects. Although any ...
that contains too many elements to be
countable In mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmetic and number theory), formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities and ...
. The uncountability of a set is closely related to its
cardinal number 150px, Aleph null, the smallest infinite cardinal In mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as quantity (number theory), mathematical structure, structure (algebra), space (geometry), and ca ...
: a set is uncountable if its cardinal number is larger than that of the set of all
natural number In mathematics, the natural numbers are those numbers used for counting (as in "there are ''six'' coins on the table") and total order, ordering (as in "this is the ''third'' largest city in the country"). In common mathematical terminology, w ...
s.

# Characterizations

There are many equivalent characterizations of uncountability. A set ''X'' is uncountable if and only if any of the following conditions hold: * There is no
injective function In , an injective function (also known as injection, or one-to-one function) is a that maps elements to distinct elements; that is, implies . In other words, every element of the function's is the of one element of its . The term must no ...

(hence no
bijection In , a bijection, bijective function, one-to-one correspondence, or invertible function, is a between the elements of two , where each element of one set is paired with exactly one element of the other set, and each element of the other set is p ...

) from ''X'' to the set of natural numbers. * ''X'' is nonempty and for every ω-
sequence In mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmetic and number theory), formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities and t ...

of elements of ''X'', there exist at least one element of X not included in it. That is, ''X'' is nonempty and there is no
surjective function In mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as quantity (number theory), mathematical structure, structure (algebra), space (geometry), and calculus, change (mathematical analysis, analysis). It ...

from the natural numbers to ''X''. * The
cardinality In mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as quantity (number theory), mathematical structure, structure (algebra), space (geometry), and calculus, change (mathematical analysis, analysis). It ...
of ''X'' is neither finite nor equal to $\aleph_0$ (
aleph-null In mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as quantity (number theory), mathematical structure, structure (algebra), space (geometry), and calculus, change (mathematical analysis, analysis). It ...
, the cardinality of the
natural number In mathematics, the natural numbers are those numbers used for counting (as in "there are ''six'' coins on the table") and total order, ordering (as in "this is the ''third'' largest city in the country"). In common mathematical terminology, w ...
s). * The set ''X'' has cardinality strictly greater than $\aleph_0$. The first three of these characterizations can be proven equivalent in
Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory In set theory illustrating the intersection (set theory), intersection of two set (mathematics), sets. Set theory is a branch of mathematical logic that studies Set (mathematics), sets, which informally are collections of objects. Although any t ...
without the
axiom of choice In , the axiom of choice, or AC, is an of equivalent to the statement that ''a of a collection of non-empty sets is non-empty''. Informally put, the axiom of choice says that given any collection of bins, each containing at least one object ...

, but the equivalence of the third and fourth cannot be proved without additional choice principles.

# Properties

* If an uncountable set ''X'' is a subset of set ''Y'', then ''Y'' is uncountable.

# Examples

The best known example of an uncountable set is the set R of all
real number In mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers ( and ), formulas and related structures (), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (), and quantities and their changes ( and ). There is no g ...
s;
Cantor's diagonal argument 250px, An illustration of Cantor's diagonal argument (in base 2) for the existence of uncountable sets. The sequence at the bottom cannot occur anywhere in the enumeration of sequences above. In set theory, Cantor's diagonal argument, also cal ...
shows that this set is uncountable. The diagonalization proof technique can also be used to show that several other sets are uncountable, such as the set of all infinite
sequence In mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmetic and number theory), formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities and t ...

s of
natural number In mathematics, the natural numbers are those numbers used for counting (as in "there are ''six'' coins on the table") and total order, ordering (as in "this is the ''third'' largest city in the country"). In common mathematical terminology, w ...
s and the set of all
subset In mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as quantity (number theory), mathematical structure, structure (algebra), space (geometry), and calculus, change (mathematical analysis, analysis). ...

s of the set of natural numbers. The cardinality of R is often called the
cardinality of the continuum In set theory illustrating the intersection of two sets 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, ...
, and denoted by $\mathfrak$, or $2^$, or $\beth_1$ ( beth-one). The
Cantor set In mathematics, the Cantor set is a set of points lying on a single line segment that has a number of remarkable and deep properties. It was discovered in 1874 by Henry John Stephen Smith and introduced by German mathematician Georg Cantor in 1883 ...

is an uncountable subset of R. The Cantor set is a
fractal In mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmetic and number theory), formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities a ...

and has
Hausdorff dimension In mathematics, Hausdorff dimension is a measure of ''roughness'', or more specifically, fractal dimension, that was first introduced in 1918 by mathematician Felix Hausdorff. For instance, the Hausdorff dimension of a single point (geometry), ...
greater than zero but less than one (R has dimension one). This is an example of the following fact: any subset of R of Hausdorff dimension strictly greater than zero must be uncountable. Another example of an uncountable set is the set of all
function Function or functionality may refer to: Computing * Function key A function key is a key on a computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. Modern comp ...
s from R to R. This set is even "more uncountable" than R in the sense that the cardinality of this set is $\beth_2$ ( beth-two), which is larger than $\beth_1$. A more abstract example of an uncountable set is the set of all countable
ordinal number In set theory Set theory is the branch of that studies , 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 , is mostly concerned with those that ...
s, denoted by Ω or ω1. The cardinality of Ω is denoted $\aleph_1$ ( aleph-one). It can be shown, using the
axiom of choice In , the axiom of choice, or AC, is an of equivalent to the statement that ''a of a collection of non-empty sets is non-empty''. Informally put, the axiom of choice says that given any collection of bins, each containing at least one object ...

, that $\aleph_1$ is the ''smallest'' uncountable cardinal number. Thus either $\beth_1$, the cardinality of the reals, is equal to $\aleph_1$ or it is strictly larger.
Georg Cantor Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor ( , ;  – January 6, 1918) was a German mathematician. He created set theory, which has become a fundamental theory in mathematics. Cantor established the importance of one-to-one correspondence be ...
was the first to propose the question of whether $\beth_1$ is equal to $\aleph_1$. In 1900,
David Hilbert David Hilbert (; ; 23 January 1862 – 14 February 1943) was a German mathematician This is a List of German mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, G ...
posed this question as the first of his 23 problems. The statement that $\aleph_1 = \beth_1$ is now called the
continuum hypothesis In mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmetic and number theory), formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities an ...
, and is known to be independent of the Zermelo–Fraenkel axioms for
set theory Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies Set (mathematics), 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, i ...
(including the
axiom of choice In , the axiom of choice, or AC, is an of equivalent to the statement that ''a of a collection of non-empty sets is non-empty''. Informally put, the axiom of choice says that given any collection of bins, each containing at least one object ...

).

# Without the axiom of choice

Without the
axiom of choice In , the axiom of choice, or AC, is an of equivalent to the statement that ''a of a collection of non-empty sets is non-empty''. Informally put, the axiom of choice says that given any collection of bins, each containing at least one object ...

, there might exist cardinalities incomparable to $\aleph_0$ (namely, the cardinalities of
Dedekind-finiteIn mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as quantity (number theory), mathematical structure, structure (algebra), space (geometry), and calculus, change (mathematical analysis, analysis). It ha ...
infinite sets). Sets of these cardinalities satisfy the first three characterizations above, but not the fourth characterization. Since these sets are not larger than the natural numbers in the sense of cardinality, some may not want to call them uncountable. If the axiom of choice holds, the following conditions on a cardinal $\kappa$ are equivalent: *$\kappa \nleq \aleph_0;$ *$\kappa > \aleph_0;$ and *$\kappa \geq \aleph_1$, where $\aleph_1 = , \omega_1 ,$ and $\omega_1$ is the least
initial ordinal The von Neumann cardinal assignment is a cardinal assignment which uses ordinal number In set theory, an ordinal number, or ordinal, is one generalization of the concept of a natural number that is used to describe a way to arrange a (possibly ...
greater than $\omega.$ However, these may all be different if the axiom of choice fails. So it is not obvious which one is the appropriate generalization of "uncountability" when the axiom fails. It may be best to avoid using the word in this case and specify which of these one means.

*
Aleph number In mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as quantity (number theory), mathematical structure, structure (algebra), space (geometry), and calculus, change (mathematical analysis, analysis). It ...
*
Beth number In mathematics, the beth numbers are a certain sequence of infinite set, infinite cardinal numbers, conventionally written \beth_0,\ \beth_1,\ \beth_2,\ \beth_3,\ \dots, where \beth is the second Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew letter (bet (letter), beth). ...
*
First uncountable ordinal In mathematics, the first uncountable ordinal, traditionally denoted by ω1 or sometimes by Ω, is the smallest ordinal number that, considered as a set (mathematics), set, is uncountable. It is the supremum (least upper bound) of all countable ordi ...
*
Injective function In mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmetic and number theory), formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities and ...

# Bibliography

* Halmos, Paul, ''
Naive Set Theory Naive set theory is any of several theories of sets used in the discussion of the foundations of mathematics Foundations of mathematics is the study of the philosophical and logical and/or algorithmic basis of mathematics, or, in a broader sens ...
''. Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1960. Reprinted by Springer-Verlag, New York, 1974. (Springer-Verlag edition). Reprinted by Martino Fine Books, 2011. (Paperback edition). *