set theory
noun [mass noun]
The branch of mathematics which deals with the formal properties of sets as units (without regard to the nature of their individual constituents) and the expression of other branches of mathematics in terms of sets.He therefore attempted to put set theory on an axiomatic basis to avoid the paradoxes....
- Ernst Schröder's important work is in the area of algebra, set theory and logic.
- In particular, she has attempted to reconcile poetry with set theory, a special branch of algebra.
Derivatives
set-theoretic
- When Brouwer was beginning his career as a mathematician, set-theoretic topology was in a primitive state.
- Later de Groot worked on set-theoretic topology.
- It followed that number-theoretic operations could be explained in terms of set-theoretic operations such as intersection, union, and the like.
set-theoretical
- But whereas the French had analysed set-theoretical constructions carried out with the help of the Axiom of Choice, Luzin went considerably further and considered difficulties arising within the theory of effective sets.
- The latter case, where an anaphor refers to the set-theoretical difference of restrictor and scope, has been studied by both psycholinguists and formal semanticists.