This work is a systematic study of ideals over uncountable sets. In particular, we investigate the role of various properties of ideals in arithmetic of cardinal numbers. We also study consequences of existence of precipitous ideals for the generalized continuum hypothesis and the singular cardinals problem.
The main body of this book consists of 106 numbered theorems and a dozen of examples of models of set theory. A large number of additional results is given in the exercises, which are scattered throughout the text. Most exer cises are provided with an outline of proof in square brackets [ ], and the more difficult ones are indicated by an asterisk. I am greatly indebted to all those mathematicians, too numerous to men tion by name, who in their letters, preprints, handwritten notes, lectures, seminars, and many conversations over the past decade shared with me their insight into this exciting subject. XI CONTENTS Preface xi PART I SETS Chapter 1 AXIOMATIC SET THEORY I. Axioms of Set Theory I 2. Ordinal Numbers 12 3. Cardinal Numbers 22 4. Real Numbers 29 5. The Axiom of Choice 38 6. Cardinal Arithmetic 42 7. Filters and Ideals. Closed Unbounded Sets 52 8. Singular Cardinals 61 9. The Axiom of Regularity 70 Appendix: Bernays-Godel Axiomatic Set Theory 76 Chapter 2 TRANSITIVE MODELS OF SET THEORY 10. Models of Set Theory 78 II. Transitive Models of ZF 87 12. Constructible Sets 99 13. Consistency of the Axiom of Choice and the Generalized Continuum Hypothesis 108 14. The In Hierarchy of Classes, Relations, and Functions 114 15. Relative Constructibility and Ordinal Definability 126 PART II MORE SETS Chapter 3 FORCING AND GENERIC MODELS 16. Generic Models 137 17. Complete Boolean Algebras 144 18.
Gert H. Müller The growth of the number of publications in almost all scientific areas, as in the area of (mathematical) logic, is taken as a sign of our scientifically minded culture, but it also has a terrifying aspect. In addition, given the rapidly growing sophistica tion, specialization and hence subdivision of logic, researchers, students and teachers may have a hard time getting an overview of the existing literature, partic ularly if they do not have an extensive library available in their neighbourhood: they simply do not even know what to ask for! More specifically, if someone vaguely knows that something vaguely connected with his interests exists some where in the literature, he may not be able to find it even by searching through the publications scattered in the review journals. Answering this challenge was and is the central motivation for compiling this Bibliography. The Bibliography comprises (presently) the following six volumes (listed with the corresponding Editors): I. Classical Logic W. Rautenberg 11. Non-classical Logics W. Rautenberg 111. Model Theory H.-D. Ebbinghaus IV. Recursion Theory P.G. Hinman V. Set Theory A.R. Blass VI. ProofTheory; Constructive Mathematics J.E. Kister; D. van Dalen & A.S. Troelstra.
Since their inception, the Perspectives in Logic and Lecture Notes in Logic series have published seminal works by leading logicians. Many of the original books in the series have been unavailable for years, but they are now in print once again. This volume, the fifth publication in the Perspectives in Logic series, studies set-theoretic independence results (independence from the usual set-theoretic ZFC axioms), in particular for problems on the continuum. The author gives a complete presentation of the theory of proper forcing and its relatives, starting from the beginning and avoiding the metamathematical considerations. No prior knowledge of forcing is required. The book will enable a researcher interested in an independence result of the appropriate kind to have much of the work done for them, thereby allowing them to quote general results.
Numbers imitate space, which is of such a di?erent nature —Blaise Pascal It is fair to date the study of the foundation of mathematics back to the ancient Greeks. The urge to understand and systematize the mathematics of the time led Euclid to postulate axioms in an early attempt to put geometry on a ?rm footing. With roots in the Elements, the distinctive methodology of mathematics has become proof. Inevitably two questions arise: What are proofs? and What assumptions are proofs based on? The ?rst question, traditionally an internal question of the ?eld of logic, was also wrestled with in antiquity. Aristotle gave his famous syllogistic s- tems, and the Stoics had a nascent propositional logic. This study continued with ?ts and starts, through Boethius, the Arabs and the medieval logicians in Paris and London. The early germs of logic emerged in the context of philosophy and theology. The development of analytic geometry, as exempli?ed by Descartes, ill- tratedoneofthedi?cultiesinherentinfoundingmathematics. Itisclassically phrased as the question ofhow one reconciles the arithmetic with the geom- ric. Arenumbers onetypeofthingand geometricobjectsanother? Whatare the relationships between these two types of objects? How can they interact? Discovery of new types of mathematical objects, such as imaginary numbers and, much later, formal objects such as free groups and formal power series make the problem of ?nding a common playing ?eld for all of mathematics importunate. Several pressures made foundational issues urgent in the 19th century.
