Inaccessible cardinalIn set theory, an uncountable cardinal is inaccessible if it cannot be obtained from smaller cardinals by the usual operations of cardinal arithmetic. More precisely, a cardinal κ is strongly inaccessible if it is uncountable, it is not a sum of fewer than κ cardinals smaller than κ, and implies . The term "inaccessible cardinal" is ambiguous. Until about 1950, it meant "weakly inaccessible cardinal", but since then it usually means "strongly inaccessible cardinal".
UltrafilterIn the mathematical field of order theory, an ultrafilter on a given partially ordered set (or "poset") is a certain subset of namely a maximal filter on that is, a proper filter on that cannot be enlarged to a bigger proper filter on If is an arbitrary set, its power set ordered by set inclusion, is always a Boolean algebra and hence a poset, and ultrafilters on are usually called . An ultrafilter on a set may be considered as a finitely additive measure on .
Zermelo–Fraenkel set theoryIn set theory, Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, named after mathematicians Ernst Zermelo and Abraham Fraenkel, is an axiomatic system that was proposed in the early twentieth century in order to formulate a theory of sets free of paradoxes such as Russell's paradox. Today, Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, with the historically controversial axiom of choice (AC) included, is the standard form of axiomatic set theory and as such is the most common foundation of mathematics.
Elementary equivalenceIn model theory, a branch of mathematical logic, two structures M and N of the same signature σ are called elementarily equivalent if they satisfy the same first-order σ-sentences. If N is a substructure of M, one often needs a stronger condition. In this case N is called an elementary substructure of M if every first-order σ-formula φ(a1, ..., an) with parameters a1, ..., an from N is true in N if and only if it is true in M. If N is an elementary substructure of M, then M is called an elementary extension of N.
Continuum hypothesisIn mathematics, specifically set theory, the continuum hypothesis (abbreviated CH) is a hypothesis about the possible sizes of infinite sets. It states that there is no set whose cardinality is strictly between that of the integers and the real numbers, or equivalently, that any subset of the real numbers is finite, is countably infinite, or has the same cardinality as the real numbers. In Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory with the axiom of choice (ZFC), this is equivalent to the following equation in aleph numbers: , or even shorter with beth numbers: .
Set theorySet 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, set theory, as a branch of mathematics, is mostly concerned with those that are relevant to mathematics as a whole. The modern study of set theory was initiated by the German mathematicians Richard Dedekind and Georg Cantor in the 1870s. In particular, Georg Cantor is commonly considered the founder of set theory.
