Set Theory: An Introduction / Neuauflage Ist Broschiert

Robert L. Vaught

ISBN 10: 0817632387 / ISBN 13: 9780817632380

Published by Birkhauser, 1985

May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0817632387I4N00

Synopsis:

By its nature, set theory does not depend on any previous mathematical knowl­ edge. Hence, an individual wanting to read this book can best find out if he is ready to do so by trying to read the first ten or twenty pages of Chapter 1. As a textbook, the book can serve for a course at the junior or senior level. If a course covers only some of the chapters, the author hopes that the student will read the rest himself in the next year or two. Set theory has always been a sub­ ject which people find pleasant to study at least partly by themselves. Chapters 1-7, or perhaps 1-8, present the core of the subject. (Chapter 8 is a short, easy discussion of the axiom of regularity). Even a hurried course should try to cover most of this core (of which more is said below). Chapter 9 presents the logic needed for a fully axiomatic set th~ory and especially for independence or consistency results. Chapter 10 gives von Neumann's proof of the relative consistency of the regularity axiom and three similar related results. Von Neumann's 'inner model' proof is easy to grasp and yet it prepares one for the famous and more difficult work of GOdel and Cohen, which are the main topics of any book or course in set theory at the next level.

Review:

"One of [the book's] strengths is the author's voice. His prose is clear and correct...The text is quite concise."

--Mathematical Reviews

"The volume is in a clear and interesting style and is highly recommended to undergraduate students of mathematics as well as philosophy."

--Acta Sci. Math. (on the first edition)

Bibliographic Details

Title: Set Theory: An Introduction / Neuauflage Ist...
Publisher: Birkhauser
Publication Date: 1985
Binding: Paperback
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket