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[-] veniasilente@lemm.ee 25 points 11 months ago

Aren't there numbers past (plus/minus) infinity? Last I hear there's some omega stuff (for denoting numbers "past infinity") and it's not even the usual alpha-beta-omega flavour.

Come to think of it, is there even a notation for "the last possible number" in math? aka something that you just can't tack "+1" at the end of to make a new number?

[-] KmlSlmk64@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

IIRC Depends if you talk about cardinal or ordinal numbers. What I remember: In cardinal numbers (the normal numbers we think of, which denote quantity, etc.) have their maximum in infinity. But in ordinal numbers (which denote order - first, second, etc.) Can go past infinity - the first after infinity is omega. Then omega +1. And then some bigger stuff, which I don't remember much, like aleph 0 and more.

[-] weker01@feddit.de 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

No cardinal and ordinal numbers continue past the "first" infinity in modern math. I.e. The cardinal number denoting the cardinality of the natural numbers (aleph_0) is smaller than the one of the reals.

Edit: In modern systems aleph_0 = omega btw. Omega denotes ordinal and aleph denotes cardinals.

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this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
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