Countable vs Uncountable Infinity

The cluster focuses on debates about countable and uncountable infinite sets, Cantor's diagonal argument proving the reals are uncountable, and cardinality comparisons between natural numbers, rationals, and reals.

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Keywords

ZF ZFC en.m proof.html i.e tachyos.org E.g wikipedia.org set infinite numbers real numbers natural sets elements reals theorem containing

Sample Comments

hgsgm Jan 23, 2023 View on HN

Not just infinite, uncountably infinite!

ColinWright Jul 6, 2013 View on HN

It is a precise term with a precise meaning. You can look it up and found many, many explanations online, some of which will be right, few of which will be truly helpful.Let me add to them.If you can put a set into one-to-one correspondence with the counting number (which are 1, 2, 3, and so on) then we call the set "countable" or "countably infinite". Examples include (but are not limited to):* The even counting numbers: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and so on;* The integer

tantalor Aug 16, 2021 View on HN

Oops, that's what I meant, not even countably in-finite

throwway120385 Feb 27, 2025 View on HN

I thought Aleph Null was countably infinite?

podperson Oct 12, 2010 View on HN

Cantor's diagonal argument -- proof that the Real numbers are more infinite than the Integers (or Naturals). Slightly more mind-blowing than the algebraics are no bigger than the naturals.

sambapa Feb 19, 2025 View on HN

You seem to misunderstand the concept of countable infinity

andrewprock Apr 30, 2020 View on HN

It's not the set of digits you use which is uncountable, it's the representation itself.

misframer Mar 29, 2016 View on HN

Countably infinite? :)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countable_set

tzs Jan 1, 2026 View on HN

Most of them. The reals are uncountable. The set of finite expressions is countable.

kruczek Jul 6, 2022 View on HN

Not all infinities are equal, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_number:"A fundamental theorem due to Georg Cantor shows that it is possible for infinite sets to have different cardinalities, and in particular the cardinality of the set of real numbers is greater than the cardinality of the set of natural numbers."