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Naive Set Theory

by Paul R. Halmos · Dover Publications

Paul Halmos's short classic on informal axiomatic set theory. Chapters 17–21 cover well ordering, transfinite recursion, ordinal numbers, sets of ordinals, and ordinal arithmetic in a few pages each, before moving to cardinals.

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Wolfram MathWorld

MathWorld is an online mathematics encyclopedia from Wolfram Research offering detailed, browsable articles on topics across the math spectrum, including algebra, geometry, calculus, and number theory. Each entry includes definitions, theorems, formulas, diagrams, worked examples, and links to further reading.

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nLab: Ordinal

Reference article from the nLab research wiki giving the definition of ordinal numbers as well-ordered sets, their arithmetic, and constructive and structural variants. Suited to readers who know basic set theory and want precise statements, alternative formulations, and literature references.

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Set Theory

Learn ordinal numbers with William Hamilton's Set Theory course! Explore fundamental concepts and deepen your understanding.

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Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Set Theory

Joan Bagaria's peer-reviewed Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry surveying modern set theory: the ZFC axioms, ordinals and cardinals, the continuum hypothesis, forcing and independence results, large cardinals, and determinacy. Readers gain a map of the field's central questions and results.

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Large Countable Ordinals (Part 1)

Unique free resource for going beyond textbook ordinal arithmetic into ordinal notations (epsilon-nought, Veblen functions) relevant to proof theory. First of John Baez's three-part Azimuth blog series on countable ordinals. Covers omega, ordinal addition, multiplication and exponentiation, Cantor normal form and epsilon-nought; Parts 2–3 continue through the Veblen hierarchy to the Feferman–Schütte and Veblen ordinals.

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Introduction to Mathematical Thinking

Stanford course by Keith Devlin on how mathematicians reason, starting with the logic of language (and, or, not, implication, quantifiers) and moving to the structure of proofs, including contradiction and induction. Learners become able to read, construct and critique simple mathematical proofs.

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