Article contents
ON THE UNCOUNTABILITY OF
${\mathbb R}$
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 April 2022
Abstract
Cantor’s first set theory paper (1874) establishes the uncountability of
${\mathbb R}$
. We study this most basic mathematical fact formulated in the language of higher-order arithmetic. In particular, we investigate the logical and computational properties of
${\mathsf {NIN}}$
(resp.
${\mathsf {NBI}}$
), i.e., the third-order statement there is no injection resp. bijection from
$[0,1]$
to
${\mathbb N}$
. Working in Kohlenbach’s higher-order Reverse Mathematics, we show that
${\mathsf {NIN}}$
and
${\mathsf {NBI}}$
are hard to prove in terms of (conventional) comprehension axioms, while many basic theorems, like Arzelà’s convergence theorem for the Riemann integral (1885), are shown to imply
${\mathsf {NIN}}$
and/or
${\mathsf {NBI}}$
. Working in Kleene’s higher-order computability theory based on S1–S9, we show that the following fourth-order process based on
${\mathsf {NIN}}$
is similarly hard to compute: for a given
$[0,1]\rightarrow {\mathbb N}$
-function, find reals in the unit interval that map to the same natural number.
- Type
- Article
- Information
- Copyright
- © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Association for Symbolic Logic
References





- 8
- Cited by