Finite and Infinite Sets

This note deals with the standard definition of what it means for a set to be finite or infinite. Note that the other common definition called Dedekind finiteness is equivalent under the axiom of choice.

Definition

A set S is called finite if it is empty, or there is a natural number n for which there exists a bijection:

S{1,,n}.

By convention, we take {1,,n} to be when n=0, such that is finite.

Definition

A set is called infinite if is not finite.