Degrees of infinity

Madhavan Mukund
https://www.cmi.ac.in/~madhavan

Mathematics for Data Science 1

Week 1
Are there degrees of infinity?
Cardinality of a set is the number of elements
For finite sets, count the elements
What about infinite sets?
Is N smaller than Z?
Is Z smaller than Q?
Is Q smaller than R?

First systematically studied by Georg Cantor

To compare cardinalities of infinite sets, use
bijections
One-to-one and onto function
Pairs elements from the sets so that none are
Georg Cantor
left out
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Countable sets
Starting point of infinite sets is N
Suppose we have a bijection f between N and
a set X
Enumerate X as {f (0), f (1), . . . , }
X can be “counted” via f
Such a set is called countable

Georg Cantor

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Z is countable
Z extends N with negative integers
Intuitively, Z is twice as large as N
Can we set up a bijection between N and Z?
· · · , −4, −3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, · · ·
2, 0, 1,
4, 2, 0, 1, 3,
··· , 8, 6, 4, 2, 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, · · ·
The enumeration is effective
f (0) = 0
For i odd, f (i) = (i + 1)/2
For i even, f (i) = −(i/2)

Z is countable Georg Cantor

Madhavan Mukund Degrees of infinity Mathematics for Data Science 1, Week 1 4 / 10

Is Q countable?
Q is dense, Z is discrete y

Are there more rationals than integers?

5• • • • • •
There is an obvious bijection between Z × Z
and Q 4 •10 • • • • •
p
(p, q) 7→
q 3 •9 •11 • • • •

Sufficient to check cardinality of Z × Z 2 •3 •8 •12 • • •

For simplicity, we restrict to N × N
1 •2 •4 •7 •13 • •
Enumerate N × N diagonally
•0 •1 •5 •6 •14 • x
0 1 2 3 4 5

Madhavan Mukund Degrees of infinity Mathematics for Data Science 1, Week 1 5 / 10

Is Q countable?
Q is dense, Z is discrete y

Are there more rationals than integers?

5• • • • • •
There is an obvious bijection between Z × Z
and Q 4• • • • • •
p
(p, q) 7→ 3• • • • • •
q
Sufficient to check cardinality of Z × Z 2• • • • • •
For simplicity, we restrict to N × N
1• • • • • •
Enumerate N × N diagonally
• • • • • • x
Other enumeration strategies are also possible 0 1 2 3 4 5
Can easily extend these to Z × Z
Hence Q is countable
Madhavan Mukund Degrees of infinity Mathematics for Data Science 1, Week 1 6 / 10
Is R countable?
R extends Q by irrational numbers
b0 b1 b2 b3 b4 ···
Cantor showed that R is not countable
s0 0 1 1 1 0 ···
First, a different set s1 1 0 1 0 0 ···
Infinite sequences over {0, 1} s2 1 1 1 1 1 ···
0 1 0 1 1 0 ··· s3 0 1 1 0 0 ···
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
. . . . . . .
Suppose there is some enumeration

Madhavan Mukund Degrees of infinity Mathematics for Data Science 1, Week 1 7 / 10

Is R countable?
R extends Q by irrational numbers
b0 b1 b2 b3 b4 ···
Cantor showed that R is not countable
s0 1 1 1 1 0 ···
First, a different set s1 1 1 1 0 0 ···
Infinite sequences over {0, 1} s2 1 1 0 1 1 ···
0 1 0 1 1 0 ··· s3 0 1 1 1 0 ···
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
. . . . . . .
Suppose there is some enumeration
Flip bi in si
Read off the diagonal sequence
Diagonal sequence differs from each si at bi
New sequence that it not part of the
enumeration
Madhavan Mukund Degrees of infinity Mathematics for Data Science 1, Week 1 8 / 10
Is R countable?

Infinite sequences over {0, 1} cannot be

enumerated b0 b1 b2 b3 b4 ···
s0 1 1 1 1 0 ···
Each sequence can be read as a decimal
s1 1 1 1 0 0 ···
fraction
s2 1 1 0 1 1 ···
0.011101110011 s3 0 1 1 1 0 ···
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Injective function from {0, 1} sequences to . . . . . . .
interval [0, 1) ⊆ R
Hence [0, 1) ⊆ R cannot be enumerated
So R is not countable

Madhavan Mukund Degrees of infinity Mathematics for Data Science 1, Week 1 9 / 10

Summary

Any set that has a bijection from N is

countable
Z and Q are countable
R is not countable — diagonalization
Is there a set whose size is between N and R?
Continuum Hypothesis — one of the major
questions in set theory
Paul Cohen showed that you can neither prove
nor disprove this hypothesis within set theory

Georg Cantor

Madhavan Mukund Degrees of infinity Mathematics for Data Science 1, Week 1 10 / 10