Alphabeta Math
ExampleConstruction: AI-adaptedVerification: AI-generatedPipeline-generatedjudge pass (gpt-5.6-terra)audited 2026-09-07
How statement and proof provenance work

The first chip identifies the source of the statement or construction; the second identifies the source of its local proof or verification.

  • Literature-sourced: the exact statement appears in a cited source; only wording and notation differ.
  • AI-adapted: a semantically identical restatement of literature-sourced material, modulo indexing, notation, and boundary cases adopted by the library.
  • AI-generated: a genuinely novel statement formulated by AI, with no source for the claim itself.

These labels describe origin, not correctness: citations and verification chips remain separate evidence.

A singleton can have large rank and hereditary size

Example

For every infinite ordinal α, the singleton s={α} has rank α+1 although it has exactly one element. Its root-inclusive closure TC({s}) contains every ordinal below α. In particular when α=κ is an infinite initial ordinal, sHκ.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: Work in ZF unless the statement explicitly weakens or supplements it; fix the objects and hypotheses of the statement.

[F1]

Let κ be an infinite initial ordinal. In ZF set Hκ={x:λ<κ j (j:TC({x})λ)}. This initially defines a class. Its root-inclusive transitive closure contains x as an element. When TC({x}) is well-orderable its hereditary cardinality means the least ordinal equinumerous with it; under Choice this exists for every set. The injection formulation above is used without Choice. For infinite κ, replacing TC({x}) by TC(x) gives the same class. Indeed TC({x})={x}TC(x) by the finite-stage formula. Adding one point to a set injecting into finite λ gives an injection into λ+1<κ; for infinite λ, keep indices at least ω, shift natural indices by one, and use index zero for the added point, obtaining an injection into λ. Restriction gives the converse. We retain the root-inclusive convention throughout. Conventions and prerequisites: prop-transitive-closure-minimality, def-cardinal. (Hereditary size and H_kappa)

[F2]

In ZF, for every ordinal α, rank(α)=α and rank(Vα)=α. (Ranks of ordinals and hierarchy stages)

Verification

1.1

The ordinal-rank formula and membership-rank equation give rank(s)=sup{rank(α)+1}=α+1. Its only element is α, so its cardinality is one.

F2
2.1

Starting from {s}, transitive closure contains s, then αs, and then all βα. If α=κ and this closure injected into λ<κ, restriction would inject κ into λ, impossible for an initial ordinal: the image subset of λ has order type at most λ and is equinumerous with κ. Thus the defining witness for Hκ cannot exist.

F1step 1.1

Depends on

Used by

Nothing in the library uses this result yet.

Dependency tree · two levels

6 results within two dependency steps of this one, each drawn at its shortest distance from it. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, so the chart reads left to right and ends at this result, which carries a heavier outline. Every node is a link to that result. Click elsewhere on the chart to enlarge it.

Sources