Zermelo-Fraenkel Set Theory
Limitations of Naive Set Theory
Theorem 17: Russell’s Paradox
The “set” is not well-defined.
Natural Numbers as Sets
Definition 66: Von Neumann Numerals
The von Neumann numeral for a natural number is defined as the set of all von Neumann numerals less than , or if . Formally:
Definition 67: Successor Function
The successor function, denoted , is defined as follows:
Theorem 18: Validity of Successor Function
Let be the von Neumann numeral for any . Then:
Zermelo-Fraenkel Axioms
Definition 68: Zermelo-Fraenkel Axioms
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Extensionality. Two sets are equal if and only if they have the same elements:
- Regularity.