Naive Set Theory (Paul Halmos)

 

I have just started reading Paul R. Halmos’ classic text Naive Set Theory, and I intend to blog on each section of the book. The purpose is mainly to internalize all the material presented in the book and at the same time provide the gist of each section, so that I can always come back and read whenever I feel like doing so. The actual text, divided into 25 sections (or chapters, if you will), comprises 102 pages. Halmos’ original intention was “to tell the beginning student of advanced mathematics the basic set theoretic facts of life, and to do so with the minimum of philosophical discourse and logical formalism… The style is usually informal to the point of being conversational.“

The reader is warned that “the expert specialist will find nothing new here.” Halmos recommends Hausdorff’s Set Theory and Axiomatic Set Theory by Suppes for a more extensive treatment of the subject. Nevertheless, the treatment by Halmos is not trivial at all. I personally feel his exposition is impeccable!

Almost all the ideas presented in the following posts belong to the author of the book, and I make absolutely no claims to originality in the exposition.