Independence of the Continuum Hypothesis: an Intuitive Introduction

Abstract

The independence of the continuum hypothesis is a result of broad impact: it settles a basic question regarding the nature of N and R, two of the most familiar mathematical structures; it introduces the method of forcing that has become the main workhorse of set theory; and it has broad implications on mathematical foundations and on the role of syntax versus semantics. Despite its broad impact, it is not broadly taught. A main reason is the lack of accessible expositions for nonspecialists, because the mathematical structures and techniques employed in the proof are unfamiliar outside of set theory. This manuscript aims to take a step in addressing this gap by providing an exposition at a level accessible to advanced undergraduate mathematicians and theoretical computer scientists, while covering all the technically challenging parts of the proof.Comment: - Edited the example in the Reflection definition. - Changed fonts for rank() and nr() - Changed fonts for CH to \mathrm{CH} - Corrected a few spurious typo