Chapter 1

Axiomatic Set Theory

Intuitively, a set is a collection of items. The following are the Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory axioms: Axiom 1 (Axiom of extensionality). Two sets are equal if they have the same elements: xy [z (z x z y ) x = y ]. Axiom 2 (Axiom of regularity). Every non-empty set x contains a member y such that x and y are disjoint: x[a(a x) y (y x z (z y z x))]. Axiom 3 (Axiom of empty set). There exists an empty set: xy (y x). Axiom 4 (Axiom of pairing). If x and y are sets, there exists a set that contains x and y as its elements: xy z (x z y z ). Axiom 5 (Axiom of union). For any set F , there exists a set A containing every element of every member of F : FAY x[(x Y Y F ) x A]. Axiom 6 (Axiom of power set). For all sets A, there exists a set containing all subsets of A: AS z [z x z S ]. Axiom 7 (Axiom of innity). There exists an innite set, and the minimal such set is N = {, {}, {, {}}, . . .}: X [ X y (y X y y X )]. Axiom 8 (Axiom schema of separation). If z is a set and is a formula of elements of z , then there exists a subset of z consisting of all elements satisfying : z w1 . . . wn y x[x y (x z (x, z, w1 , . . . , wn ))]. 1

CHAPTER 1. AXIOMATIC SET THEORY

Axiom 9 (Axiom schema of replacement). For all functions phi on elements x of A (more formally, a formula in terms of x, y , A, w1 , ..., wn where y is said to be the output), the range is a set: Aw1 , . . . , wn [x(x A !y) B x(x A y (y B ))]. The axiom of empty set and the axiom of extensionality imply that the empty set is unique. Finally, we have the controversial axiom of choice. The theory with axiom of choice in addition to the Zermelo-Fraenkel theory is often called ZF C . Axiom 10. For all nonempty collections of nonempty sets, there exists a choice function to choose an element from each set: F[S (S F ) (S ) S ]. The axiom of choice can be proven from other axioms if F is nite. Even if F is a collection of subsets of N, we can easily choose the smallest element of each set. However, for more complex sets, such as real numbers, it is not obvious how one would choose an element from each set. It turns out that the axiom of choice in general is independent of the other axioms. One denes a relation between a set A and a set B to be a set R A B . The inverse relationship R1 is dened as {(b, a) : a A, b B, (a, b) R}. Now we suppose A = B . If R = R1 , we call R symmetric. If either (a, b) R or (b, a) R, we call R antisymmetric. If I = {(a, a) : a A} R, we call R a reexive relation. If there is no a such that (a, a) R, we call R reexive. We call a relation transitive if (a, b) R and (b, c) R implies that (a, c) R. For instance, an equivalence equation is a symmetric reexive, and transitive relation, and we use a b to denote that (a, b) R for an equivalence relation R. A linear ordering is an antisymmetric, antireexive transitive relation, and we use a < b to denote (a, b) R. A partial ordering is an antireexive transitive relation, and we use a b to denote (a, b) R. One classic example of a partial ordering is set inclusion: a b if a b. For a subset S of A, we dene the maximal element of S to be an element m such that m b (or m b for all comparable m and b) for all b S . A subset is bounded if there is an element of A bigger than or equal to all elements in that subset. From the axiom of choice, one can prove the following theorems about ordered sets: Theorem 1 (Well-ordering theorem). Dene a well-ordering to be a linear ordering on A such that every subset has a minimal element. All sets are well ordered. Theorem 2 (Zorns Lemma). Suppose a set S is partially ordered (reexively). Dene a chain C to be a subset of S such that all elements of C are comparable. Suppose that every chain is bounded above. Then, S has a maximal element. Zorns lemma can be used to prove that all vector spaces have a basis.