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Real Numbers: Completeness and Its Consequences

Real numbers can be described constructively by starting with natural numbers and describing integers, rationals, and reals, or axiomatically using four structural axioms. The completeness axiom has consequences like the Archimedean property that for any real number x there exists a natural number n greater than x, and properties like the density of rational numbers in the reals.

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18 views

Real Numbers: Completeness and Its Consequences

Real numbers can be described constructively by starting with natural numbers and describing integers, rationals, and reals, or axiomatically using four structural axioms. The completeness axiom has consequences like the Archimedean property that for any real number x there exists a natural number n greater than x, and properties like the density of rational numbers in the reals.

Uploaded by

elia parolari
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Real numbers
There are two methods for describing what real numbers are:
1. constructive:
a. starting from N (Peano’s Axioms)
b. describe Z and Q
c. arrives in R
2. axiomatic:
a. R is described with 4 structural axioms.
i. sum
ii. product
iii. order
iv. completeness
b. N,Z,Q are subset of R

Completeness and its consequences


There are few properties related to completeness

Archimedean property
𝑁 ⊂ 𝑅, ∀𝑥 ∈ 𝑅, ∃ 𝑛 ∈ 𝑁: 𝑛 > 𝑥
For every choice of 𝑥 ∈ 𝑅there exist 𝑛 ∈ 𝑁such that 𝑛 > 𝑥

This property has 2 simple consequences:


1. The inverse property (εis a really small number)
+ 1
∀ε > 0, ∃𝑛 ∈ 𝑁 : 𝑛
< ε
This is proved because:
1 1
𝑛
< ε →𝑛 > ε
2. Density of the rational in R

Theorem: the set of the rational numbers Q is dense in R


∀𝑎, 𝑏 ∈ 𝑅, 𝑎 < 𝑏, ∃𝑞 ∈ 𝑄: 𝑎 < 𝑞 < 𝑏

Proof (special case with 𝑏 − 𝑎 > 1):


● Suppose that 0 < 𝑎 < 𝑏 and 𝑏 − 𝑎 > 1
● We claim that ∃𝑛 ∈ 𝑁: 𝑎 < 𝑛 < 𝑏

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