Why Sets?

Sets play a key role in foundations of mathematics. Why? To what extent is it an accident of history? Imagine that you have a chance to talk to mathematicians from a far-away planet. Would their mathematics be set-based? What are the alternatives to the set-theoretic foundation of mathematics? Besides, set theory seems to play a significant role in computer science; is there a good justification for that? We discuss these and some related issues. 1 Sets in Computer Science Quisani: I wonder why sets play such a prominent role in foundations of mathematics. To what extent is it an accident of history? And I have questions about the role of sets in computer science. Author3 : Have you studied set theory? Q: Not really but I came across set theory when I studied discrete mathematics and logic, and I looked into Enderton's book [21] a while ago. I remember that ZFC, first-order Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory with the axiom of choice, became for all practical purposes the foundation of ma...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: BIRTHDAY
• Authors: Andreas Blass
• Keywords: Applied Computing, BIRTHDAY 2008, Computer Science, Computer Science Quisani, Set Theory