The Axiom Schema of Replacement: for each formula $\phi$, if $\phi$ defines a class function on $A$ then its image on $A$ is a set

Let $\phi (z,w,\bar{p})$ be a formula of the language of set theory (The first-order language of set theory: $\in$, $=$, formulas with parameters, and class abbreviations) in which $A$ and $B$ do not occur free. The Replacement instance for $\phi$ is the sentence

$\mathrm{\forall }\bar{p}\mathrm{\forall }A\left(\mathrm{\forall }z\right(z\in A\to \mathrm{\exists }!w\phi (z,w,\bar{p}))\to \mathrm{\exists }B\mathrm{\forall }w(w\in B\leftrightarrow \mathrm{\exists }z(z\in A\wedge \phi (z,w,\bar{p}))\left)\right)\mathrm{.}$

The Axiom Schema of Replacement is the collection of all these sentences, one for each such $\phi$. In words: if for every $z\in A$ there is exactly one $w$ with $\phi (z,w,\bar{p})$, then there is a set $B$ whose elements are exactly those $w$.

• The class-function reading. A formula $\phi (z,w,\bar{p})$ satisfying $\mathrm{\forall }z\in A\mathrm{\exists }!w\phi (z,w,\bar{p})$ assigns to each $z\in A$ a single $w$, so it behaves like a function on $A$ without being a set of ordered pairs; it is called a class function on $A$. The instance says that the image of a set under a class function is a set. The hypothesis is required only on $A$: what $\phi$ does outside $A$ is irrelevant.

• Replacement yields Separation, given a set with no elements. Fix a set $x$ and a formula $\psi (z,\bar{p})$. If some $c\in x$ satisfies $\psi (c,\bar{p})$, then $\phi (z,w,\bar{p},c):=(\psi (z,\bar{p})\wedge w=z)\vee (\mathrm{\neg }\psi (z,\bar{p})\wedge w=c)$ assigns exactly one $w$ to each $z\in x$, so an instance of this schema applied to $x$ returns the set of those $w$; that set is exactly the one The Axiom Schema of Separation: for each formula $\phi$, $\mathrm{\forall }\bar{p}\mathrm{\forall }x\mathrm{\exists }y\mathrm{\forall }z(z\in y\leftrightarrow (z\in x\wedge \phi (z,\bar{p})))$ asserts, since the value $c$ contributed by the second disjunct itself satisfies $\psi$. If instead no $c\in x$ satisfies $\psi (c,\bar{p})$, the set to be produced has no elements, and a set with no elements is asserted outright by The Axiom of Infinity: there is a set containing a set with no elements and closed under $y\mapsto y\cup \{y\}$. The case split is not avoidable: the hypothesis of the schema demands a value at every $z\in x$, so the collection being separated cannot itself be taken as the domain. Separation is nevertheless stated separately, because every construction on this page uses Separation and no construction on this page needs the full strength of Replacement.

• Where Replacement is genuinely needed. Nothing on this page consumes it; The axiom ledger for this page: which of the ZFC axioms each construction and each result actually consumes records that. It becomes indispensable for transfinite recursion and for the ordinal and cardinal hierarchies, where the sets constructed are not subsets of any set already in hand.