Transfer Principle - Constructions of The Hyperreals

Constructions of The Hyperreals

The hyperreals can be developed either axiomatically or by more constructively oriented methods. The essence of the axiomatic approach is to assert (1) the existence of at least one infinitesimal number, and (2) the validity of the transfer principle. In the following subsection we give a detailed outline of a more constructive approach. This method allows one to construct the hyperreals if given a set-theoretic object called an ultrafilter, but the ultrafilter itself cannot be explicitly constructed. (Vladimir Kanovei and Shelah give a construction of a definable, countably saturated elementary extension of the structure consisting of the reals and all finitary relations on it, that eliminates the need for an ultrafilter.)

In its most general form, transfer is a bounded elementary embedding between structures.