Difference between revisions of "Axiom of choice"
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Latest revision as of 01:25, 12 January 2024
The Axiom of choice is an axiom of set theory. The axiom of choice says that if one is given any collection of boxes, each containing at least one object, it is possible to make a selection of exactly one object from each box, even if the collection is infinite.
Formally, the Axiom of choice says that, given a non-empty set of non-empty sets, there is a choice function on
. That is, there is a function
such that
for each
. It is also equivalent to the statement that, given a set
of non-empty sets,
is non-empty. An equivalent form of the Axiom of choice says, given a set
of non-empty pairwise disjoint sets, there exists a set
with one element from each set in
.
The Axiom of choice is equivalent to Zorn's Lemma and the Well-Ordering theorem assuming Zermelo-Fraenkel Axioms.
It was discovered by German mathematician, Ernst Zermelo in 1904.
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