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Cantor's Diagonal Argument

Cantor's Diagonal Argument proves that the set of real numbers is uncountably infinite. It does this by showing that any attempt to list the real numbers results in at least one number being left out. Specifically, the proof constructs a new real number by changing the digits on the main diagonal of the listing. This new number cannot exist in the original listing, proving that the listing was incomplete. The Power Set Theorem then extends this idea to show that for any set S, the power set of S (the set of all subsets of S) has greater cardinality than S.

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Hari Shankar Punna
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647 views4 pages

Cantor's Diagonal Argument

Cantor's Diagonal Argument proves that the set of real numbers is uncountably infinite. It does this by showing that any attempt to list the real numbers results in at least one number being left out. Specifically, the proof constructs a new real number by changing the digits on the main diagonal of the listing. This new number cannot exist in the original listing, proving that the listing was incomplete. The Power Set Theorem then extends this idea to show that for any set S, the power set of S (the set of all subsets of S) has greater cardinality than S.

Uploaded by

Hari Shankar Punna
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Cantor's Diagonal Argument

A set S is finite iff there is a bijection between S and {1,2,…..n} for


some positive integer n, and Infinite otherwise. (I.e.., if it makes sense
to count its elements.)
S,N
|S|=|N|
Two sets have the same cardinality iff there is a bijection between them.
(“Bijection", means function that is one-to-one and onto".)
A set S is called countable infinite if there is a bijection between S and
N.
|S| = |N|
Georg Cantor proved this astonishing fact in 1895 by showing that the
set of real numbers is not Countable.
That is, it is impossible to construct a bijection between N and R. In fact,
it's impossible to construct a bijection between N and the interval [0, 1]

Here's Cantor's proof.

Suppose that f : N ® [0, 1] is any function. Make a table of values of f,


where the 1st row contains the
Decimal expansion of f(1), the 2nd row contains the decimal expansion
of f(2), . . . the nth row contains the decimal expansion of f(n), . . .
Perhaps f(1) = π/10, f(2) = 37/99, f(3) = 1/7, f(4) =√2/2, f(5) = 3/8,
so that the table starts out like this.
Let’s highlight the digits in the main diagonal of the table.

R= {0.314…,0.3737…,0.1428…,0.7071…,0.3750…}
The highlighted digits are 0.37210…… Suppose that we add 1 to each of
these digits, to get the number 0.48321….
Now, this number can't be in the table.
So it can't equal f(n) for any n | that is, it can't appear in the table.
Power set Theorem:
If S is a set, then the power set P(S) is defined as the set of all subsets of
S. For example, if S = {1,3,4},
then
P(S)= { { }, {1}, { 3 }, { 4 }, { 1,3 }, { 1,4 }, { 3,4 }, { 1,3,4 } }.
When S is finite, |P(S)|= 2|S| (because to choose a subset R of S, you need
to decide whether each element of S does or does not belong to R).

In the above example, |S| = 3 and |P(S)| = 23 =8.

Using a version of Cantor's argument, it is possible to prove the


following theorem:

Theorem: For every set S, |S| < |P(S)|.

Proof:
Let f: S®P(S) be any function can be define

X={ s ∈ S | s ∉ f(s) }

For example, if S = {1,2,3,4}, then perhaps f(1) = {1,3}, f(2) = {1,3,4},


f(3) = { } and f(4) = {2,4}. In this X does not contain 1 (because 1 ∈
f(1) ), X Does not contain 2 (because 2 ∉ f(2) ), X does not contain 3
(because 3 ∉ f(3) ) and X does contain 4 (because 4 ∈ f(4) ), So
X={2,3}.

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