Choice function

Mathematical function From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Let X be a set of sets none of which are empty. Then a choice function (selector, selection) on X is a mathematical function f that is defined on X such that f is a mapping that assigns each element of X to one of its elements.

An example

Let X = { {1,4,7}, {9}, {2,7} }. Then the function f defined by f({1, 4, 7}) = 7, f({9}) = 9 and f({2, 7}) = 2 is a choice function on X.

History and importance

Summarize
Perspective

Ernst Zermelo (1904) introduced choice functions as well as the axiom of choice (AC) and proved the well-ordering theorem,[1] which states that every set can be well-ordered. AC states that every set of nonempty sets has a choice function. A weaker form of AC, the axiom of countable choice (ACω) states that every countable set of nonempty sets has a choice function. However, in the absence of either AC or ACω, some sets can still be shown to have a choice function.

  • If is a finite set of nonempty sets, then one can construct a choice function for by picking one element from each member of This requires only finitely many choices, so neither AC or ACω is needed.
  • If every member of is a nonempty set, and the union is well-ordered, then one may choose the least element of each member of . In this case, it was possible to simultaneously well-order every member of by making just one choice of a well-order of the union, so neither AC nor ACω was needed. (This example shows that the well-ordering theorem implies AC. The converse is also true, but less trivial.)

Choice function of a multivalued map

Summarize
Perspective

Given two sets and , let be a multivalued map from to (equivalently, is a function from to the power set of ).

A function is said to be a selection of , if:

The existence of more regular choice functions, namely continuous or measurable selections is important in the theory of differential inclusions, optimal control, and mathematical economics.[2] See Selection theorem.

Bourbaki tau function

Summarize
Perspective

Nicolas Bourbaki used epsilon calculus for their foundations that had a symbol that could be interpreted as choosing an object (if one existed) that satisfies a given proposition. So if is a predicate, then is one particular object that satisfies (if one exists, otherwise it returns an arbitrary object). Hence we may obtain quantifiers from the choice function, for example was equivalent to .[3]

However, Bourbaki's choice operator is stronger than usual: it's a global choice operator. That is, it implies the axiom of global choice.[4] Hilbert realized this when introducing epsilon calculus.[5]

See also

Notes

References

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