Can you count “more” than your friend?

Try imagining the largest number possible. Here’s 309, 310, 311, 1 billion, even 1 googol, but
no matter how big of a number you can think of, you can always go higher. So is it true that
no “biggest” number exists, not even infinity. Well, infinity isn’t a number, instead it’s a kind
of number. The concept of infinity allows you to talk about amounts that are unending. But
what is interesting is, some unending amounts, some infinities, are literally bigger than
others.

First things first, when a number refers to the quantity of things it represents it is called a
cardinal number. We use natural numbers, that is the set N, to express cardinality. E.g.,
Consider the set A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}. The cardinality of set A is 5 because it contains 5
elements. Two sets have the same cardinality when they contain the same quantity of

of set N, starting 1,2,3, … The number of integers in this set is labelled ℵ0 (aleph null) and is
things. Now, let’s think about the simplest infinite number we can, and that’s the cardinality

regarded by mathematicians as the smallest infinity.

Now, counter-intuitively, we can prove that the quantity of set N (1,2,3…) is equal to that of
set Z (… -1,0,1, …) by just pairing them up together like so: (-1,1);(1,2);(-2,3)… etc. So, the
two sets (N and Z) must be the same size, whilst both being infinite.

other words, imagine there are ℵ0 many rooms. An infinite bus load of people arrive to the
Put another way, imagine a hotel with an infinite number of rooms, numbered 1,2,3, ... In

hotel and are assigned rooms by the receptionist whereby person1 gets room1, and person2
gets room2, etc, until all the rooms are occupied. Then, person0 decides to show up and ask
if the hotel has a room. The receptionist, over the PA, requests all guests to move 1 room

for person0 which hence leads us to conclude the ℵ0 + 1 = ℵ0.

This is known as the bijection argument and can similarly be used to prove ℵ0 + ℵ0 = ℵ0. In
this case another bus arrives containing the set of Z- people (-1, -2, -3, …). The receptionist
requests for the current guests to move into the room which is double their number. So,
person1 moves into room2, and person2 into room4 etc, until all the current guests are re-
settled. She then requests for person-1 to move into room1, person-2 to move into room3,

ℵ0 + ℵ0 = ℵ0.
and person(-n) to move into room(2*n -1), until all rooms are full. Therefore, we deduce that

There are also neat ways to prove that ℵ0*ℵ0=ℵ0, but I won’t go into too much detail.
Instead let’s explore the uncountable infinities. Sets that have a cardinality of ℵ0 are said to
be “countable”, because you can put them in a sequential list and count them in such a way

bigger cardinality than ℵ0. And if there is some set S with a bigger cardinality than ℵ0, when
that you will, eventually, reach all of them. However, we’re curious whether some sets have

we attempt to make a bijection between S and ℵ0, S will always have elements left over.

ℵ0. If that’s the case then there must be some bijection between S and N, the set of positive
Let’s assume that S = “the set of all real numbers between 1 and zero” has a cardinality of

integers. Now, by contradiction, we can show that no such bijection exists. To prove by
contradiction, let’s say it does exist and we have ordered a list containing all elements of S,
Can you count “more” than your friend?

ready to be counted. We can then define a new real number, labelled k, where 0 < k < 1,
derived from our list. For every positive integer n (n=1 ,2 ,3, …), the nth decimal digit of k is
determined as follows: it is set to 0 if the nth decimal place of the nth element in the list is
non-zero; otherwise, it’s set to 1. And, because 0 < k < 1, k must be in S, and thus on the list.

our ℵ0 large list by at least one digit. As it is impossible for k to both be on and not on the list
However, the definition of k defines k in such a way that it differs from any other number on

cardinality of set S is not ℵ0, but greater than ℵ0. Mathematicians say this set, the set of real
at the same time, we have a contradiction. Finally, this contradiction proves that the

numbers, has cardinality ℵ1, and is the smallest “uncountable” cardinal number.

Mathematicians, argue that the aleph numbers extend for ever and ever, each representing
a larger, more complex infinite set, and that there is no largest aleph among all alephs. Yet,
their work breeds the necessary question: “how can I count “more” than my friend”. And
well, If you were to count the real numbers between zero and one, while your friend was to
count all of the positive integers, hell even all the integers, after an infinite amount of time,
your friend would have reached infinity whilst you would still have an infinite number of
numbers to go. And if you ever thought you’d counted all the numbers between zero and
one, then you would just use the proof (what we call cantors diagonal argument) above to
find a new number.

To close, the idea of infinity is certainly an interesting one but nevertheless a hard one which
challenges not only mine, but everyone’s comprehension. However, it begs us to question
whether there is such a number, an inaccessible cardinal, which is so unfathomably infinite,
that it cannot be obtained from smaller cardinals by cardinal arithmetic.

https://tectum.io/blog/aleph-null/#:~:text=The%20set%20of%20all%20rational,%2C
%20which%20is%20aleph%2Dnull.

https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Aleph-0.html

https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095401226

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxGsU8oIWjY

https://www.britannica.com/science/aleph-null

https://mathcircle.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/BMC5/docpspdf/infinity.pdf