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Axiom ax-ac 4744
Description: Axiom of Choice. The Axiom of Choice (AC) is usually considered an extension of ZF set theory rather than a proper part of it. It is sometimes considered philosophically controversial because it asserts the existence of a set without telling us what the set is. ZF set theory that includes AC is called ZFC.

The unpublished version given here says that given any set x, there exists a y that is a collection of unordered pairs, one pair for each non-empty member of x. One entry in the pair is the member of x, and the other entry is some arbitrary member of that member of x. See the rewritten version ac3 4747 for a more detailed explanation.

This version was specifically crafted to be short when expanded to primitives. Kurt Maes' 5-quantifier version ackm 4782 is slightly shorter when the biconditional of ax-ac 4744 is expanded into implication and negation.

Standard textbook versions of AC are derived as ac8 4763, ac5 4752, and ac7 4748. The Axiom of Regularity ax-reg 4593 (among others) is used to derive our version from the standard ones; this reverse derivation is shown as theorem aceq6b 4742. Equivalents to AC are the well-ordering theorem weth 4787 and Zorn's lemma zorn 4797. See ac4 4750 for comments about stronger versions of AC.

Assertion
Ref Expression
ax-ac |- E.yA.zA.w((z e. w /\ w e. x) -> E.vA.u(E.t((u e. w /\ w e. t) /\ (u e. t /\ t e. y)) <-> u = v))
Distinct variable group:   x,y,z,w,v,u,t

Detailed syntax breakdown of Axiom ax-ac
StepHypRef Expression
1 vz . . . . . . . 8 set z
21cv 955 . . . . . . 7 class z
3 vw . . . . . . . 8 set w
43cv 955 . . . . . . 7 class w
52, 4wcel 958 . . . . . 6 wff z e. w
6 vx . . . . . . . 8 set x
76cv 955 . . . . . . 7 class x
84, 7wcel 958 . . . . . 6 wff w e. x
95, 8wa 223 . . . . 5 wff (z e. w /\ w e. x)
10 vu . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 set u
1110cv 955 . . . . . . . . . . . 12 class u
1211, 4wcel 958 . . . . . . . . . . 11 wff u e. w
13 vt . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 set t
1413cv 955 . . . . . . . . . . . 12 class t
154, 14wcel 958 . . . . . . . . . . 11 wff w e. t
1612, 15wa 223 . . . . . . . . . 10 wff (u e. w /\ w e. t)
1711, 14wcel 958 . . . . . . . . . . 11 wff u e. t
18 vy . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 set y
1918cv 955 . . . . . . . . . . . 12 class y
2014, 19wcel 958 . . . . . . . . . . 11 wff t e. y
2117, 20wa 223 . . . . . . . . . 10 wff (u e. t /\ t e. y)
2216, 21wa 223 . . . . . . . . 9 wff ((u e. w /\ w e. t) /\ (u e. t /\ t e. y))
2322, 13wex 980 . . . . . . . 8 wff E.t((u e. w /\ w e. t) /\ (u e. t /\ t e. y))
24 vv . . . . . . . . . 10 set v
2524cv 955 . . . . . . . . 9 class v
2611, 25wceq 956 . . . . . . . 8 wff u = v
2723, 26wb 146 . . . . . . 7 wff (E.t((u e. w /\ w e. t) /\ (u e. t /\ t e. y)) <-> u = v)
2827, 10wal 954 . . . . . 6 wff A.u(E.t((u e. w /\ w e. t) /\ (u e. t /\ t e. y)) <-> u = v)
2928, 24wex 980 . . . . 5 wff E.vA.u(E.t((u e. w /\ w e. t) /\ (u e. t /\ t e. y)) <-> u = v)
309, 29wi 3 . . . 4 wff ((z e. w /\ w e. x) -> E.vA.u(E.t((u e. w /\ w e. t) /\ (u e. t /\ t e. y)) <-> u = v))
3130, 3wal 954 . . 3 wff A.w((z e. w /\ w e. x) -> E.vA.u(E.t((u e. w /\ w e. t) /\ (u e. t /\ t e. y)) <-> u = v))
3231, 1wal 954 . 2 wff A.zA.w((z e. w /\ w e. x) -> E.vA.u(E.t((u e. w /\ w e. t) /\ (u e. t /\ t e. y)) <-> u = v))
3332, 18wex 980 1 wff E.yA.zA.w((z e. w /\ w e. x) -> E.vA.u(E.t((u e. w /\ w e. t) /\ (u e. t /\ t e. y)) <-> u = v))
Colors of variables: wff set class
This axiom is referenced by:  axac 4745  ac2 4746
Copyright terms: Public domain