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xlalcciax
Apr18-11, 08:26 AM
How to prove that set of real numbers is unbounded?

micromass
Apr18-11, 08:54 AM
What is your definition of unbounded?

reef
Apr18-11, 11:32 AM
How to prove that set of real numbers is unbounded?

It most likely involves showing that the cardinality of the real numbers exceeds ℵ ("aleph null").

Fredrik
Apr18-11, 11:35 AM
It most likely involves showing that the cardinality of the real numbers exceeds ℵ ("aleph null").
That would be "uncountable". "Unbounded" has a bunch of different but equivalent definitions, like "is not a subset of some open ball".

reef
Apr18-11, 12:06 PM
True. I figured that you would have to go about it the same type of way. Do you have to establish that a set without bound has no limit? Regardless, I'd be interested to see the proof when xlalcciax figures it out.

Fredrik
Apr18-11, 06:11 PM
It's much easier to prove that ℝ is unbounded than to prove that ℝ is uncountable. Once you've written down a definition of "bounded" and thought about what it means, you're pretty much done.

HallsofIvy
Apr18-11, 07:10 PM
I wish xlalcciax would get back to us with his definition of "bounded" so we would know in which direction to go.

reef
Apr18-11, 08:11 PM
You could be really lazy and just say that the real numbers can be proven to be uncountable by means of Georg Cantors diagonalization process.. lol.