Dedekind-infinite Set - Relation To The Axiom of Choice

Relation To The Axiom of Choice

Since every infinite, well-ordered set is Dedekind-infinite, and since the AC is equivalent to the well-ordering theorem stating that every set can be well-ordered, clearly the general AC implies that every infinite set is Dedekind-infinite. However, the equivalence of the two definitions is much weaker than the full strength of AC.

In particular, there exists a model of ZF in which there exists an infinite set with no denumerable subset. Hence, in this model, there exists an infinite, Dedekind-finite set. By the above, such a set cannot be well-ordered in this model.

If we assume the CC (ACω), then it follows that every infinite set is Dedekind-infinite. However, the equivalence of these two definitions is in fact strictly weaker than even the CC. Explicitly, there exists a model of ZF in which every infinite set is Dedekind-infinite, yet the CC fails (assuming consistency of ZF).

Read more about this topic:  Dedekind-infinite Set

Famous quotes containing the words relation to the, relation to, relation, axiom and/or choice:

    We must get back into relation, vivid and nourishing relation to the cosmos and the universe. The way is through daily ritual, and is an affair of the individual and the household, a ritual of dawn and noon and sunset, the ritual of the kindling fire and pouring water, the ritual of the first breath, and the last.
    —D.H. (David Herbert)

    To be a good enough parent one must be able to feel secure in one’s parenthood, and one’s relation to one’s child...The security of the parent about being a parent will eventually become the source of the child’s feeling secure about himself.
    Bruno Bettelheim (20th century)

    It would be disingenuous, however, not to point out that some things are considered as morally certain, that is, as having sufficient certainty for application to ordinary life, even though they may be uncertain in relation to the absolute power of God.
    René Descartes (1596–1650)

    It is an axiom in political science that unless a people are educated and enlightened it is idle to expect the continuance of civil liberty or the capacity for self-government.
    Texas Declaration of Independence (March 2, 1836)

    Holofernes. He is too picked, too spruce, too affected, too odd as it were, too peregrinate as I may call it.
    Sir Nathaniel. A most singular and choice epithet.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)