GCH and the two forms of the singular cardinals hypothesis
DefinitionSingularCardinals_basiccardinal-arithmeticset-theory
Three cardinal-arithmetic hypotheses, stated for cardinals of a fixed universe. Write for the successor cardinal of and for its cofinality. A cardinal is singular if it is infinite and ; it is a strong limit if and for every .
- GCH (generalized continuum hypothesis): for every infinite cardinal ,
- SCH (singular cardinals hypothesis, in the form quoted from Mitchell 1992): for every singular strong limit cardinal ,
- SCH (second form): for every singular cardinal ,
These are the hypotheses compared throughout the mission: GCH implies SCH, and the second form implies the first.
Formalization Note Singularity is Mathlib's Cardinal.IsSingular (infinite and not regular), cofinality is κ.ord.cof, strong limit is Mathlib's Cardinal.IsStrongLimit (which counts as a strong limit, harmless here since is regular), and is Order.succ κ. The second form reuses the published predicate JechSetTheory.SCHAt from Def_JechStationary.
Definition code
import Mathlib
import Definitions.Def_JechStationary
universe u
namespace SingularCardinals
open Cardinal
/-- The generalized continuum hypothesis: `2 ^ κ = κ⁺` for every infinite cardinal `κ`. -/
def GCH : Prop := ∀ κ : Cardinal.{u}, ℵ₀ ≤ κ → 2 ^ κ = Order.succ κ
/-- The singular cardinals hypothesis, first form (Mitchell 1992): for every singular strong
limit cardinal `κ`, `2 ^ κ = κ⁺`. -/
def SCH : Prop :=
∀ κ : Cardinal.{u}, κ.IsSingular → IsStrongLimit κ → 2 ^ κ = Order.succ κ
/-- The singular cardinals hypothesis, second form: for every singular cardinal `κ`,
`2 ^ cf κ < κ` implies `κ ^ cf κ = κ⁺` (this is `JechSetTheory.SCHAt κ` for every `κ`). -/
def SCH₂ : Prop := ∀ κ : Cardinal.{u}, JechSetTheory.SCHAt κ
end SingularCardinals
Source
Wikipedia, "Singular cardinals hypothesis", revision oldid=1349753131, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Singular_cardinals_hypothesis&oldid=1349753131, lead section (first form, quoting Mitchell 1992) and paragraph "Another form of the SCH"; GCH as mentioned in the lead section.
Human review
Confirmed by the mission captain (proposal self-audit).
Confirmed by the moderator at approval.