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EmptysetWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Emptyset
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Inmathematics,andmorespecificallysettheory,theemptysetistheuniquesethavingno
elementsitssizeorcardinality(countofelementsinaset)iszero.Someaxiomaticset
theoriesensurethattheemptysetexistsbyincludinganaxiomofemptysetinothertheories,
itsexistencecanbededuced.Manypossiblepropertiesofsetsaretriviallytruefortheempty
set.
Nullsetwasonceacommonsynonymfor"emptyset",butisnowatechnicalterminmeasure
theory.Theemptysetmayalsobecalledthevoidset.

Contents

Theemptysetis
theset
containingno
elements.

1 Notation
2 Properties
2.1 Operationsontheemptyset
3 Inotherareasofmathematics
3.1 Extendedrealnumbers
3.2 Topology
3.3 Categorytheory
4 Questionedexistence
4.1 Axiomaticsettheory
4.2 Philosophicalissues
5 Seealso
6 Notes
7 References
8 Externallinks

Notation
Commonnotationsfortheemptysetinclude"{}","",and" ".Thelattertwosymbolswere
introducedbytheBourbakigroup(specificallyAndrWeil)in1939,inspiredbytheletterin
theNorwegianandDanishalphabets(andnotrelatedinanywaytotheGreekletter).[1]
TheemptysetsymbolisfoundatUnicodepointU+2205.[2]InLaTeX,itiscodedas
\emptysetor\varnothing.

Properties

Asymbolfor
theemptyset

Instandardaxiomaticsettheory,bytheprincipleofextensionality,twosetsareequaliftheyhavethesame
elementsthereforetherecanbeonlyonesetwithnoelements.Hencethereisbutoneemptyset,andwespeakof
"theemptyset"ratherthan"anemptyset".
Themathematicalsymbolsemployedbelowareexplainedhere.
ForanysetA:
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TheemptysetisasubsetofA:

TheunionofAwiththeemptysetisA:

TheintersectionofAwiththeemptysetistheemptyset:

TheCartesianproductofAandtheemptysetistheemptyset:

Theemptysethasthefollowingproperties:
Itsonlysubsetistheemptysetitself:

Thepowersetoftheemptysetisthesetcontainingonlytheemptyset:

Itsnumberofelements(thatis,itscardinality)iszero:

Theconnectionbetweentheemptysetandzerogoesfurther,however:inthestandardsettheoreticdefinitionof
naturalnumbers,weusesetstomodelthenaturalnumbers.Inthiscontext,zeroismodelledbytheemptyset.
Foranyproperty:
Foreveryelementof thepropertyholds(vacuoustruth)
Thereisnoelementof forwhichthepropertyholds.
Conversely,ifforsomepropertyandsomesetV,thefollowingtwostatementshold:
ForeveryelementofVthepropertyholds
ThereisnoelementofVforwhichthepropertyholds,
then

Bythedefinitionofsubset,theemptysetisasubsetofanysetA.Thatis,everyelementxof belongstoA.
Indeed,ifitwerenottruethateveryelementof isinAthentherewouldbeatleastoneelementof thatisnot
presentinA.Sincetherearenoelementsof atall,thereisnoelementof thatisnotinA.Anystatementthat
begins"foreveryelementof "isnotmakinganysubstantiveclaimitisavacuoustruth.Thisisoftenparaphrased
as"everythingistrueoftheelementsoftheemptyset."

Operationsontheemptyset

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Whenspeakingofthesumoftheelementsofafiniteset,oneisinevitablyledtotheconventionthatthesumofthe
elementsoftheemptysetiszero.Thereasonforthisisthatzeroistheidentityelementforaddition.Similary,the
productoftheelementsoftheemptysetshouldbeconsideredtobeone(seeemptyproduct),sinceoneisthe
identityelementformultiplication.
Adisarrangementofasetisapermutationofthesetthatleavesnoelementinthesameposition.Theemptysetisa
disarrangmentofitselfasnoelementcanbefoundthatretainsitsoriginalposition.

Inotherareasofmathematics
Extendedrealnumbers
Sincetheemptysethasnomembers,whenitisconsideredasasubsetofanyorderedset,theneverymemberof
thatsetwillbeanupperboundandlowerboundfortheemptyset.Forexample,whenconsideredasasubsetofthe
realnumbers,withitsusualordering,representedbytherealnumberline,everyrealnumberisbothanupperand
lowerboundfortheemptyset.[3]Whenconsideredasasubsetoftheextendedrealsformedbyaddingtwo
"numbers"or"points"totherealnumbers,namelynegativeinfinity,denoted
whichisdefinedtobelessthan
everyotherextendedrealnumber,andpositiveinfinity,denoted
whichisdefinedtobegreaterthanevery
otherextendedrealnumber,then:

and

Thatis,theleastupperbound(suporsupremum)oftheemptysetisnegativeinfinity,whilethegreatestlower
bound(inforinfimum)ispositiveinfinity.Byanalogywiththeabove,inthedomainoftheextendedreals,
negativeinfinityistheidentityelementforthemaximumandsupremumoperators,whilepositiveinfinityisthe
identityelementforminimumandinfimum.

Topology
Consideredasasubsetoftherealnumberline(ormoregenerallyanytopologicalspace),theemptysetisboth
closedandopenitisanexampleofa"clopen"set.Allitsboundarypoints(ofwhichtherearenone)areinthe
emptyset,andthesetisthereforeclosedwhileforeveryoneofitspoints(ofwhichthereareagainnone),thereis
anopenneighbourhoodintheemptyset,andthesetisthereforeopen.Moreover,theemptysetisacompactsetby
thefactthateveryfinitesetiscompact.
Theclosureoftheemptysetisempty.Thisisknownas"preservationofnullaryunions."

Categorytheory
IfAisaset,thenthereexistspreciselyonefunctionffrom{}toA,theemptyfunction.Asaresult,theemptysetis
theuniqueinitialobjectofthecategoryofsetsandfunctions.
Theemptysetcanbeturnedintoatopologicalspace,calledtheemptyspace,injustoneway:bydefiningthe
emptysettobeopen.Thisemptytopologicalspaceistheuniqueinitialobjectinthecategoryoftopologicalspaces
withcontinuousmaps.Infact,itisastrictinitialobject:onlytheemptysethasafunctiontotheemptyset.

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Questionedexistence
Axiomaticsettheory
InZermelosettheory,theexistenceoftheemptysetisassuredbytheaxiomofemptyset,anditsuniqueness
followsfromtheaxiomofextensionality.However,theaxiomofemptysetcanbeshownredundantineitherof
twoways:
Thereisalreadyanaxiomimplyingtheexistenceofatleastoneset.Givensuchanaxiomtogetherwiththe
axiomofseparation,theexistenceoftheemptysetiseasilyproved.
Inthepresenceofurelements,itiseasytoprovethatatleastonesetexists,viz.thesetofallurelements.
Again,giventheaxiomofseparation,theemptysetiseasilyproved.

Philosophicalissues
Whiletheemptysetisastandardandwidelyacceptedmathematicalconcept,itremainsanontologicalcuriosity,
whosemeaningandusefulnessaredebatedbyphilosophersandlogicians.
Theemptysetisnotthesamethingasnothingrather,itisasetwithnothinginsideitandasetisalways
something.Thisissuecanbeovercomebyviewingasetasabaganemptybagundoubtedlystillexists.Darling
(2004)explainsthattheemptysetisnotnothing,butrather"thesetofalltriangleswithfoursides,thesetofall
numbersthatarebiggerthanninebutsmallerthaneight,andthesetofallopeningmovesinchessthatinvolvea
king."[4]
Thepopularsyllogism
Nothingisbetterthaneternalhappinessahamsandwichisbetterthannothingtherefore,ahamsandwichis
betterthaneternalhappiness
isoftenusedtodemonstratethephilosophicalrelationbetweentheconceptofnothingandtheemptyset.Darling
writesthatthecontrastcanbeseenbyrewritingthestatements"Nothingisbetterthaneternalhappiness"and"[A]
hamsandwichisbetterthannothing"inamathematicaltone.AccordingtoDarling,theformerisequivalentto
"Thesetofallthingsthatarebetterthaneternalhappinessis "andthelatterto"Theset{hamsandwich}isbetter
thantheset ".Itisnotedthatthefirstcompareselementsofsets,whilethesecondcomparesthesets
themselves.[4]
JonathanLowearguesthatwhiletheemptyset:
"...wasundoubtedlyanimportantlandmarkinthehistoryofmathematics,weshouldnotassumethatits
utilityincalculationisdependentuponitsactuallydenotingsomeobject."
itisalsothecasethat:
"Allthatweareeverinformedabouttheemptysetisthatit(1)isaset,(2)hasnomembers,and(3)is
uniqueamongstsetsinhavingnomembers.However,thereareverymanythingsthat'havenomembers',in
thesettheoreticalsensenamely,allnonsets.Itisperfectlyclearwhythesethingshavenomembers,for
theyarenotsets.Whatisunclearishowtherecanbe,uniquelyamongstsets,asetwhichhasnomembers.
Wecannotconjuresuchanentityintoexistencebymerestipulation."[5]
GeorgeBoolosarguedthatmuchofwhathasbeenheretoforeobtainedbysettheorycanjustaseasilybeobtained
bypluralquantificationoverindividuals,withoutreifyingsetsassingularentitieshavingotherentitiesas
members.[6]
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Seealso
Inhabitedset
Nothing

Notes
1.EarliestUsesofSymbolsofSetTheoryandLogic.(http://jeff560.tripod.com/set.html)
2.UnicodeStandard5.2(http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2200.pdf)
3.Bruckner,A.N.,Bruckner,J.B.,andThomson,B.S.,2008.ElementaryRealAnalysis(http://classicalrealanalysis.com/d
ownload.aspx),2nded.PrenticeHall.P.9.
4.D.J.Darling(2004).Theuniversalbookofmathematics.JohnWileyandSons.p.106.ISBN0471270474.
5.E.J.Lowe(2005).Locke.Routledge.p.87.
6.*GeorgeBoolos,1984,"Tobeistobethevalueofavariable,"TheJournalofPhilosophy91:43049.Reprintedinhis
1998Logic,LogicandLogic(RichardJeffrey,andBurgess,J.,eds.)HarvardUniv.Press:5472.

References
Halmos,Paul,NaiveSetTheory.Princeton,NJ:D.VanNostrandCompany,1960.ReprintedbySpringer
Verlag,NewYork,1974.ISBN0387900926(SpringerVerlagedition).ReprintedbyMartinoFineBooks,
2011.ISBN9781614271314(Paperbackedition).
Jech,Thomas(2002),SetTheory,SpringerMonographsinMathematics(3rdmillenniumed.),Springer,
ISBN3540440852
Graham,Malcolm(1975),ModernElementaryMathematics(Hardcover)(2nded.),NewYork:Harcourt
BraceJovanovich,ISBN0155610392

Externallinks
Weisstein,EricW.,"EmptySet"(http://mathworld.wolfram.com/EmptySet.html),MathWorld.
Retrievedfrom"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Empty_set&oldid=723045611"
Categories: Basicconceptsinsettheory Nothing
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