Cardinal Arithmetic

🅟 Mar 25, 2026

  🅤 Jul 10, 2026

Definition 1.

The sum of two cardinals $\kappa$ and $\lambda$ is

\[\kappa + \lambda = \lvert (\kappa \times \{0\}) \cup (\lambda \times \{1\}) \rvert.\]

Proposition 1.

For any disjoint sets $X$ and $Y$,

\[\lvert X \rvert + \lvert Y \rvert = \lvert X \cup Y \rvert.\]

Definition 2.

The product of two cardinals $\kappa$ and $\lambda$ is

\[\kappa \cdot \lambda = \lvert \kappa \times \lambda \rvert.\]

Proposition 2.

For any sets $X$ and $Y$,

\[\lvert X \rvert \cdot \lvert Y \rvert = \lvert X \times Y \rvert.\]

Definition 3.

The exponentiation of a cardinal $\kappa$ to the power of another cardinal $\lambda$ is

\[\kappa^\lambda = \lvert \fun(\lambda, \kappa) \rvert.\]

Proposition 3.

For any sets $X$ and $Y$,

\[\lvert X \rvert^{\lvert Y \rvert} = \lvert \fun(Y, X) \rvert.\]