Borel setIn mathematics, a Borel set is any set in a topological space that can be formed from open sets (or, equivalently, from closed sets) through the operations of countable union, countable intersection, and relative complement. Borel sets are named after Émile Borel. For a topological space X, the collection of all Borel sets on X forms a σ-algebra, known as the Borel algebra or Borel σ-algebra. The Borel algebra on X is the smallest σ-algebra containing all open sets (or, equivalently, all closed sets).
Non-measurable setIn mathematics, a non-measurable set is a set which cannot be assigned a meaningful "volume". The mathematical existence of such sets is construed to provide information about the notions of length, area and volume in formal set theory. In Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, the axiom of choice entails that non-measurable subsets of exist. The notion of a non-measurable set has been a source of great controversy since its introduction. Historically, this led Borel and Kolmogorov to formulate probability theory on sets which are constrained to be measurable.
CountingCounting is the process of determining the number of elements of a finite set of objects; that is, determining the size of a set. The traditional way of counting consists of continually increasing a (mental or spoken) counter by a unit for every element of the set, in some order, while marking (or displacing) those elements to avoid visiting the same element more than once, until no unmarked elements are left; if the counter was set to one after the first object, the value after visiting the final object gives the desired number of elements.
Cardinality of the continuumIn set theory, the cardinality of the continuum is the cardinality or "size" of the set of real numbers , sometimes called the continuum. It is an infinite cardinal number and is denoted by (lowercase Fraktur "c") or . The real numbers are more numerous than the natural numbers . Moreover, has the same number of elements as the power set of Symbolically, if the cardinality of is denoted as , the cardinality of the continuum is This was proven by Georg Cantor in his uncountability proof of 1874, part of his groundbreaking study of different infinities.
Null setIn mathematical analysis, a null set is a Lebesgue measurable set of real numbers that has measure zero. This can be characterized as a set that can be covered by a countable union of intervals of arbitrarily small total length. The notion of null set should not be confused with the empty set as defined in set theory. Although the empty set has Lebesgue measure zero, there are also non-empty sets which are null. For example, any non-empty countable set of real numbers has Lebesgue measure zero and therefore is null.
Open setIn mathematics, an open set is a generalization of an open interval in the real line. In a metric space (a set along with a distance defined between any two points), an open set is a set that, along with every point P, contains all points that are sufficiently near to P (that is, all points whose distance to P is less than some value depending on P). More generally, an open set is a member of a given collection of subsets of a given set, a collection that has the property of containing every union of its members, every finite intersection of its members, the empty set, and the whole set itself.
Meagre setIn the mathematical field of general topology, a meagre set (also called a meager set or a set of first category) is a subset of a topological space that is small or negligible in a precise sense detailed below. A set that is not meagre is called nonmeagre, or of the second category. See below for definitions of other related terms. The meagre subsets of a fixed space form a σ-ideal of subsets; that is, any subset of a meagre set is meagre, and the union of countably many meagre sets is meagre.
Injective functionIn mathematics, an injective function (also known as injection, or one-to-one function) is a function f that maps distinct elements of its domain to distinct elements; that is, x1 ≠ x2 implies f(x1) f(x2). (Equivalently, f(x1) = f(x2) implies x1 = x2 in the equivalent contrapositive statement.) In other words, every element of the function's codomain is the of one element of its domain. The term must not be confused with that refers to bijective functions, which are functions such that each element in the codomain is an image of exactly one element in the domain.
Surjective functionIn mathematics, a surjective function (also known as surjection, or onto function ˈɒn.tuː) is a function f such that every element y can be mapped from some element x such that f(x) = y. In other words, every element of the function's codomain is the of one element of its domain. It is not required that x be unique; the function f may map one or more elements of X to the same element of Y.
Partial functionIn mathematics, a partial function f from a set X to a set Y is a function from a subset S of X (possibly the whole X itself) to Y. The subset S, that is, the domain of f viewed as a function, is called the domain of definition or natural domain of f. If S equals X, that is, if f is defined on every element in X, then f is said to be a total function. More technically, a partial function is a binary relation over two sets that associates every element of the first set to at most one element of the second set; it is thus a functional binary relation.
Inverse functionIn mathematics, the inverse function of a function f (also called the inverse of f) is a function that undoes the operation of f. The inverse of f exists if and only if f is bijective, and if it exists, is denoted by For a function , its inverse admits an explicit description: it sends each element to the unique element such that f(x) = y. As an example, consider the real-valued function of a real variable given by f(x) = 5x − 7. One can think of f as the function which multiplies its input by 5 then subtracts 7 from the result.
Function (mathematics)In mathematics, a function from a set X to a set Y assigns to each element of X exactly one element of Y. The set X is called the domain of the function and the set Y is called the codomain of the function. Functions were originally the idealization of how a varying quantity depends on another quantity. For example, the position of a planet is a function of time. Historically, the concept was elaborated with the infinitesimal calculus at the end of the 17th century, and, until the 19th century, the functions that were considered were differentiable (that is, they had a high degree of regularity).