Ordinal Number

🅟 Mar 01, 2026

  🅤 Mar 16, 2026

DEF-ORD. Ordinal Number.

  • An ordinal number / ordinal is a transitive set that is strictly well-ordered by $\in$.

  • The class of all ordinals is denoted by $\Ord$.

DEF-ORD-LT.

For two ordinals $\alpha$ and $\beta$, we define

\[\alpha < \beta \enspace\lrimp\enspace \alpha\in\beta.\]

PROP-ORD-EMP.

$0:=\varnothing$ is an ordinal.

PROP-ORD-BF. Burali-Forti Paradox.

$\Ord$ is a proper class.


PROP-ORD-EL.

Every element of an ordinal is an ordinal.

PROP-ORD-SUB.

Let $\alpha$ and $\beta$ be ordinals.

  1. $\alpha\subseteq\beta$ or $\beta\subseteq\alpha$.
  2. If $\alpha\subset\beta$, then $\alpha\in\beta$.

PROP-ORD-S.

For any ordinal $\alpha$,

\[\alpha = \{\beta:\beta < \alpha\}.\]

PROP-ORD-IT.

If $C$ is a non-empty class of ordinals, then:

  1. $\bigcap C$ is an ordinal.
  2. $\bigcap C\in C$.
  3. $\bigcap C=\inf C$.

PROP-ORD-U.

If $X$ is a non-empty set of ordinals, then:

  1. $\bigcup X$ is an ordinal.
  2. $\bigcup X=\sup X$.

PROP-ORD-TO.

$\leq$ is a total order on $\Ord$.