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Cantors Theorem

Cantor's Theorem states that a set S cannot have the same cardinality as its power set P(S), meaning there is no function from S onto P(S). The proof involves constructing a subset A of S that cannot be reached by any function mapping S to P(S). This implies that P(S) is always larger than S, even for infinite sets, and the process can be iterated to create increasingly larger sets.

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28 views1 page

Cantors Theorem

Cantor's Theorem states that a set S cannot have the same cardinality as its power set P(S), meaning there is no function from S onto P(S). The proof involves constructing a subset A of S that cannot be reached by any function mapping S to P(S). This implies that P(S) is always larger than S, even for infinite sets, and the process can be iterated to create increasingly larger sets.

Uploaded by

nguyenhoangthanh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Cantor’s Theorem

For a set S, define its power set (denoted P(S)) to be the set whose members are the subsets of S.
For example, if S is the two-element set {1, 2}, then P(S) = {∅, {1}, {2}, {1, 2}}. Thus P(S) is always a
set of sets.
If S is a finite set with n elements, then P(S) contains 2n elements. (This is because to form a subset
of S, we can go through the n elements, deciding for each whether to put it into the subset or leave it
out—two choices. There are 2n ways of making the n choices.) This hold even for n = 0; the power set
of ∅ is the one-element set {∅}.
It is always true that n < 2n , and therefore a finite set is always strictly smaller than its power set.
Something analogous holds for all sets:

Cantor’s Theorem (1873). A set never has the same cardinality as its power set. In fact, for
any set S, there is no function from S onto its power set.

Proof: Consider any set S and any function f from S to P(S). We want to show that f is not onto
P(S). For that purpose, it suffices to find some subset A of S that is not in the range of f .
Here it is:
A = {x ∈ S | x ∈
/ f (x)}.
The definition of A makes sense; whenever x is in S, then f (x) will be a subset of S, and it might or
might not contain x itself.
At least A ⊆ S. It remains to verify that A in not in the range of f . That is, we need to be sure
that for each x0 in S, we have A 6= f (x0 ). We have by the construction of A,
x0 ∈ A ⇐⇒ x0 ∈
/ f (x0 ).
But this tells us that the two sets A and f (x0 ) differ in at least one way: one of the two contains x0 and
the other does not! a

Example: IN and P(IN ) do not have the same cardinality, so P(IN ) is uncountable. The above proof
of Cantor’s theorem, when we take S to be IN , is closely related to the proof on page 18 that the reals
are uncountable.
For any non-empty set S, it is easy to find a function from P(S) onto S. (How?) So in a sense, we
can “cover” S by P(S). Cantor’s theorem tells us that we cannot, in this sense, cover P(S) by S. So
there is a sense in which P(S) is larger than S, even when S is infinite.
We can iterate the power-set operation: S, P(S), P(P(S)), . . ., obtaining larger and larger sets.
There is no largest set.

H. B. Enderton

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