Supremum - Least-upper-bound Property

The least-upper-bound property is an example of the aforementioned completeness properties which is typical for the set of real numbers. This property is sometimes called Dedekind completeness.

If an ordered set S has the property that every nonempty subset of S having an upper bound also has a least upper bound, then S is said to have the least-upper-bound property. As noted above, the set R of all real numbers has the least-upper-bound property. Similarly, the set Z of integers has the least-upper-bound property; if S is a nonempty subset of Z and there is some number n such that every element s of S is less than or equal to n, then there is a least upper bound u for S, an integer that is an upper bound for S and is less than or equal to every other upper bound for S. A well-ordered set also has the least-upper-bound property, and the empty subset has also a least upper bound: the minimum of the whole set.

An example of a set that lacks the least-upper-bound property is Q, the set of rational numbers. Let S be the set of all rational numbers q such that q2 < 2. Then S has an upper bound (1000, for example, or 6) but no least upper bound in Q: If we suppose p ∈ Q is the least upper bound, a contradiction is immediately deduced because between any two reals x and y (including √2 and p) there exists some rational p', which itself would have to be the least upper bound (if p > √2) or a member of S greater than p (if p < √2). Another example is the Hyperreals; there is no least upper bound of the set of positive infinitesimals.

There is a corresponding 'greatest-lower-bound property'; an ordered set possesses the greatest-lower-bound property if and only if it also possesses the least-upper-bound property; the least-upper-bound of the set of lower bounds of a set is the greatest-lower-bound, and the greatest-lower-bound of the set of upper bounds of a set is the least-upper-bound of the set.

If in a partially ordered set P every bounded subset has a supremum, this applies also, for any set X, in the function space containing all functions from X to P, where f ≤ g if and only if f(x) ≤ g(x) for all x in X. For example, it applies for real functions, and, since these can be considered special cases of functions, for real n-tuples and sequences of real numbers.