Set Theory
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Jasvinder SinghSet Theory
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Jasvinder SinghSet theory
Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies sets, which informally
are collections of objects. Although any type of object can be collected into a set,
set theory is applied most often to objects that are relevant to mathematics. The
language of set theory can be used in the definitions of nearly all mathematical
objects.
The modern study of set theory was initiated by Georg Cantor and Richard
Dedekind in the 1870s. After the discovery of paradoxes in naive set theory,
numerous axiom systems were proposed in the early twentieth century, of which
the ZermeloFraenkel axioms, with the axiom of choice, are the best-known.
Set theory is commonly employed as a foundational system for mathematics,
particularly in the form of ZermeloFraenkel set theory with the axiom of choice.
Beyond its foundational role, set theory is a branch of mathematics in its own right,
with an active research community. Contemporary research into set theory includes
a diverse collection of topics, ranging from the structure of the real number line to
the study of the consistency of large cardinals.
History
Mathematical topics typically emerge and evolve through interactions among many
researchers. Set theory, however, was founded by a single paper in 1874 by Georg
Cantor: "On a Characteristic Property of All Real Algebraic Numbers".[1][2]
Since the 5th century BC, beginning with Greek mathematician Zeno of Elea in the
West and early Indian mathematicians in the East, mathematicians had struggled
with the concept of infinity. Especially notable is the work of Bernard Bolzano in
the first half of the 19th century.[3] Modern understanding of infinity began in
186771, with Cantor's work on number theory. An 1872 meeting between Cantor
and Richard Dedekind influenced Cantor's thinking and culminated in Cantor's
1874 paper.
Some A set is pure if all of its members are sets, all members of its members are
sets, and so on. For example, the set {{}} containing only the empty set is a
nonempty pure set. In modern set theory, it is common to restrict attention to the
von Neumann universe of pure sets, and many systems of axiomatic set theory are
designed to axiomatize the pure sets only. There are many technical advantages to
this restriction, and little generality is lost, because essentially all mathematical
concepts can be modeled by pure sets. Sets in the von Neumann universe are
organized into a cumulative hierarchy, based on how deeply their members,
members of members, etc. are nested. Each set in this hierarchy is assigned (by
transfinite recursion) an ordinal number , known as its rank. The rank of a pure
set X is defined to be the least upper bound of all successors of ranks of members
of X. For example, the empty set is assigned rank 0, while the set {{}} containing
only the empty set is assigned rank 1. For each ordinal , the set V is defined to
consist of all pure sets with rank less than . The entire von Neumann universe is
denoted V.
Axiomatic set theory
Elementary set theory can be studied informally and intuitively, and so can be
taught in primary schools using Venn diagrams. The intuitive approach tacitly
assumes that a set may be formed from the class of all objects satisfying any
particular defining condition. This assumption gives rise to paradoxes, the simplest
and best known of which are Russell's paradox and the Burali-Forti paradox.
Axiomatic set theory was originally devised to rid set theory of such paradoxes.[5]
The most widely studied systems of axiomatic set theory imply that all sets form a
cumulative hierarchy. Such systems come in two flavors, those whose ontology
consists of:
Sets alone. This includes the most common axiomatic set theory, Zermelo
Fraenkel set theory (ZFC), which includes the axiom of choice. Fragments of ZFC
include:
Zermelo set theory, which replaces the axiom schema of replacement with that of
separation;
General set theory, a small fragment of Zermelo set theory sufficient for the Peano
axioms and finite sets;
Sets and proper classes. These include Von NeumannBernaysGdel set theory,
which has the same strength as ZFC for theorems about sets alone, and MorseKelley set theory and TarskiGrothendieck set theory, both of which are stronger
than ZFC.
Systems of constructive set theory, such as CST, CZF, and IZF, embed their set
axioms in intuitionistic instead of classical logic. Yet other systems accept classical
logic but feature a nonstandard membership relation. These include rough set
theory and fuzzy set theory, in which the value of an atomic formula embodying
the membership relation is not simply True or False. The Boolean-valued models
of ZFC are a related subject.
Applications
Many mathematical concepts can be defined precisely using only set theoretic
concepts. For example, mathematical structures as diverse as graphs, manifolds,
rings, and vector spaces can all be defined as sets satisfying various (axiomatic)
properties. Equivalence and order relations are ubiquitous in mathematics, and the
theory of mathematical relations can be described in set theory.
Set theory is also a promising foundational system for much of mathematics. Since
the publication of the first volume of Principia Mathematica, it has been claimed
that most or even all mathematical theorems can be derived using an aptly
designed set of axioms for set theory, augmented with many definitions, using first
or second order logic. For example, properties of the natural and real numbers can
be derived within set theory, as each number system can be identified with a set of
equivalence classes under a suitable equivalence relation whose field is some
infinite set.
Set theory as a foundation for mathematical analysis, topology, abstract algebra,
and discrete mathematics is likewise uncontroversial; mathematicians accept that
(in principle) theorems in these areas can be derived from the relevant definitions
and the axioms of set theory. Few full derivations of complex mathematical
theorems from set theory have been formally verified, however, because such
formal derivations are often much longer than the natural language proofs
mathematicians commonly present. One verification project, Metamath, includes
human-written, computerverified derivations of more than 12,000 theorems
starting from ZFC set theory, first order logic and propositional logic.
Areas of study
Set theory is a major area of research in mathematics, with many interrelated
subfields.
Combinatorial set theory
Combinatorial set theory concerns extensions of finite combinatorics to infinite
sets. This includes the study of cardinal arithmetic and the study of extensions of
Ramsey's theorem such as the ErdsRado theorem.
Descriptive set theory
Descriptive set theory is the study of subsets of the real line and, more generally,
subsets of Polish spaces. It begins with the study of pointclasses in the Borel
hierarchy and extends to the study of more complex hierarchies such as the
projective hierarchy and the Wadge hierarchy. Many properties of Borel sets can be
established in ZFC, but proving these properties hold for more complicated sets
requires additional axioms related to determinacy and large cardinals.
The field of effective descriptive set theory is between set theory and recursion
theory. It includes the study of lightface pointclasses, and is closely related to
hyperarithmetical theory. In many cases, results of classical descriptive set theory
have effective versions; in some cases, new results are obtained by proving the
effective version first and then extending ("relativizing") it to make it more broadly
applicable.
A recent area of research concerns Borel equivalence relations and more
complicated definable equivalence relations. This has important applications to the
study of invariants in many fields of mathematics.
