von Neumann integer

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von Neumann integer



A finite von Neumann ordinal.

The von Neumann integer N is a finite set with N elements which are the von Neumann integers 0 to N-1. Thus

0 = {} = {} 1 = 0 = {} 2 = 0, 1 = {, {}} 3 = 0, 1, 2 = {, {}, {, {}}} ...

The set of von Neumann integers is infinite, even though each of its elements is finite.

[Origin of name?]

(1995-03-30)