The axiom of choice implies a group structure
Statement
Any nonempty finite set has a group structure as a cyclic group generated by any element. Under the assumption of the axiom of choice, every infinite set is equipotent with a unique cardinal number which equals an aleph. Using the axiom of choice, one can show that for any family of sets (A). Moreover, by Tarski's theorem on choice, another equivalent of the axiom of choice, for all finite (B).
Let be an infinite set and let denote the set of all finite subsets of . There is a natural multiplication on . For , let , where denotes the symmetric difference. This turns into a group with the empty set, , being the identity and every element being its own inverse; . The associative property, i.e. is verified using basic properties of union and set difference. Thus is a group with multiplication .
Any set that can be put into bijection with a group becomes a group via the bijection. It will be shown that , and hence a one-to-one correspondence between and the group exists. For , let be the subset of consisting of all subsets of cardinality exactly . Then is the disjoint union of the . The number of subsets of of cardinality is at most because every subset with elements is an element of the -fold cartesian product of . So for all (C) by (B).
Putting these results together it is seen that by (A) and (C). Also, , since contains all singletons. Thus, and , so, by the Schröder–Bernstein theorem, . This means precisely that there is a bijection between and . Finally, for define . This turns into a group. Hence every set admits a group structure.
Further reading
- Wikipedia, page 37039918, revision 1336022484, Group structure and the axiom of choice, section The axiom of choice implies a group structure. adopted
About this page
| Tag | PV59XGVR27 |
|---|---|
| URI | m2://PV59XGVR27 |
| Kind | statement, proposition |
| Writing | W0 stub |
| Status | This copy of the site has no build data. Run m2 status PV59XGVR27. |
| Changed | 4 November 2026 |
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