Let s be a finite positive integer and let As be a set such that the cardinality of As ,

denoted |As |, is equal to s. Without loss of generality, let xi As for all i = 1, 2, . . . , s

and define A0 := so |A0 | = 0.
Definition. The power set of a set A, denoted P(A), is the set of all subsets of A,
that is,
P(A) = {X : X A}.
Example 1. We have the following power sets.
1. P(A0 ) = P() = {}
2. P(A1 ) = P({x1 }) = {, {x1 }}
3. P(A2 ) = P({x1 , x2 }) = {, {x1 }, {x2 }, {x1 , x2 }}
We make the observation that P(Ak ) P(Ak+1 ). The remaining elements of
P(Ak+1 ) is obtained by including the element xk+1 to each of the elements of P(Ak ),
that is,
P(Ak+1 ) = P(Ak ) {X {xk+1 } : X P(Ak )}.
Proposition 1. If A is a finite set with cardinality s, then |P(A)| = 2s .
Proof. Without loss of generality, we prove the proposition using the sets Ai , i =
0, 1, 2, . . . . If i = 0, then |P(A0 )| = |{}| = 1 = 20 . Now assume that P(Ak ) = 2k for
some k N {0}. We now form P(Ak+1 ) by using the same method on the preceding
examples. As Ak+1 = Ak {xk+1 }, we have that
P(Ak+1 ) = P(Ak ) {X xk+1 : X P(Ak )}.
Clearly these two sets have the same cardinality by construction and has no intersection by the fact that xk+1
/ Ak . Then the desired cardinality is given by
|P(Ak+1 )| =
=
=
=
=

|P(Ak ) {X xk+1 : X P(Ak )}|

|P(Ak )| + |{X xk+1 : X P(Ak )}| ||
2 k + 2k 0
2(2k )
2k+1

Therefore, the proposition holds for all s N {0} by mathematical induction.

We now consider the set B = {0, 1} and let B A be the set of all functions mapping
A into the set B for all sets A, finite or infinite.
Example 2. We have the following functions as some of the elements of B N .
1. {(1, 0), (2, 0), (3, 0), . . . }
2. {(1, 1), (2, 1), (3, 1), . . . }
3. {(1, 0), (2, 1), (3, 0), (4, 1), (5, 0), . . . }
4. {(1, 1), (2, 0), (3, 1), (4, 1), (5, 0), (6, 1), (7, 1), . . . }
Taking the set of all such functions, we observe that B A naturally defines P(A)
by the mapping
f : P(A) B A
S 7 {(x, S (x)), x A}

(1)

where is the characteristic function, defined by


0 if x
/S
S (x) =
1 if x S
1

kell.10122016

Example 3. Let A = {a, b, c}. We have the following calculations using the function
f defined above.
1. f () = {(a, 0), (b, 0), (c, 0)}
2. f ({b}) = {(a, 0), (b, 1), (c, 0)}
3. f ({a, c}) = {(a, 1), (b, 0), (c, 1)}
4. f (A) = {(a, 1), (b, 1), (c, 1)}
Proposition 2. If A is a set, finite or infinite, then |P(A)| = |B A |.
Proof. For x A, if X A, either x A or x
/ A. We have the one-to-one and onto
mapping
f : P(A) B A
S 7 {(x, S (x)), x A}

(2)

between the two sets so P(A) and B A have the same cardinalities.
Consider a set A and its power set P(A). We now show that |P(A)| > |A|.
Theorem 3 (Cantors Theorem). The cardinality of the power set of a set A is
strictly greater than the cardinality of A.
Proof. Let the function : A P(A) be a one-to-one correspondence. Let S = {x
A:x
/ (x)}. If x A, then either x (x) or x
/ (x).
If x (x), then (x) 6= S as x
/ S.
If x
/ (x), then we also have (x) 6= S as x S but x
/ (x).
This means that S P(A) is not in the range of f , implying f cannot be a
mapping onto P(A). Therefore as S P(A) has no pre-image in f , we conclude that
P(A) in has cardinality strictly greater than A.
Let A be the set of everything. Since A is a set, we can construct its power
set, P(A). But as A contains everything, P(A) A so that |P(A)| |A|. This
contradicts Cantors Theorem, and thus a set of everything must not exist.
Example 4. Consider the following calculations.
1. Consider the distinct sets A = {1, 2} and B = {3, 4, 5}. We have that A B =
{1, 2, 3, 4, 5} and that |A| = 2, |B| = 3, and |A B| = 5. We then consider that
2 + 3 = 5. We define the concept of addition in this case by uniting distinct
sets whose cardinality is the addends and taking that sets cardinality to be the
sum.
2. Consider the distinct sets A = {2, 1, 0} and B = N. We have that AB =
and that |A| = 3 and |B| = 0 . By the method we described, we will then
consider 3 + 0 be the cardinality of
|A B| = {2, 1, 0, . . . }.
The mapping
f :AB N
x 7 x 3
is clearly a one-to-one correspondence so that |A B| = |N| = 0 . Therefore,
we consider that
3 + 0 = 0 .
2

kell.10122016

3. For n N, the mapping

f : Bn B N
x 7 x n
where Bn = {(n 1), (n 2), . . . , 2, 1, 0} and B = N is a one-to-one
correspondence so that |Bn B| = |N|. Therefore, we consider that
n + 0 = 0 .
4. Consider S = {n : n N} {0}. We have that |S| = |N| = 0 . We have that
S N = and that S N = Z so that |S N| = |Z| = |N| = 0 . Therefore we
consider that
0 + 0 = 0 .
5. Let A = {1, 2} and B = {3, 4, 5} and consider
A B = {(1, 3), (1, 4), (1, 5), (2, 3), (2, 4), (2, 5)}.
Because |A| |B| = |A B|, we consider 2 3 = 6.
6. Consider N N and its elements on the xy-plane as follows.
y

..
.

..
.

..
.

..
.

..
.

..

x
1

Notice that we can connect the points in a single curve as

y

..
.

..
.

..
.

..
.

..
.

..

x
1

kell.10122016

and have the listing of N N given by

{(1, 1), (2, 1), (1, 2), (1, 3), (2, 2), (3, 1), (4, 1), . . . }
which shows one-to-one correspondence of N and N N. Therefore we have
that
|N N| = |N|
and, using the previous example, consider that
0 0 = 0 .
Consider the interval I = (0, 1). Using the digits 0 to 9, you can express 10 10 =
100 two-digit decimals. We can do the same for 105 = 10 000 five-digit decimals. If x
is in I, we can express x as string of countably infinite number of digits 0, 1, 2, . . . , 9,
that is, there would be 100 elements of I. But as we have previously established in
class that |I| = |R|, we have that
100 = |R|.
The same can be said about n0 for n N, which just counts the very same elements
of I, but expressed in n-ary.
Therefore, as we consider 0 to be the least infinity, and that we can create a
set of greater cardinality using the power set, we have the chain of cardinal numbers

0 , 20 , 22 0 , 22

20

,...,

each of which greater than the one preceding it.

kell.10122016