Zorn's lemma

[ zawrnz ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

, Mathematics.

a theorem of set theory that if every totally ordered subset of a nonempty partially ordered set has an upper bound, then there is an element in the set such that the set contains no element greater than the specified given element.

First recorded in 1945–50; named after Max August Zorn (1906–93), German mathematician

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