eli5 What does ‘Aleph Null’ mean in mathematics?

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I’m trying to get to grips with what this term means. I’m interested in mysticism, philosophy etc and it seems like a fascinating idea especially considering the symbolism of the Aleph.

I have absolutely no maths knowledge… Just a GCSE in maths and some mental arithmetic.

Edit; thanks everyone for your useful responses!!

In: Mathematics

10 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It is the cardinality of the set of natural numbers. Also known as the garden variety “infinite”. There are higher aleph numbers and “more infinite” infinities – for example, the set of real numbers have an aleph number higher than 0. In addition to being infinite the “normal way” by always being able to name a larger number than the previous, there are also infinite real numbers *between* any two real numbers, not matter how close they are.

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