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Russell's Paradox

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The Russell's Paradox, credited to Bertrand Russell, was one of those which forced the axiomatization of set theory.

Paradox

We start with the property : ( does not belong to ). We define to be the collection of all with the property . Now comes the question: does have the property ? Assuming it does, it cannot be in itself, in spite of satisfying its own membership criterion, a contradiction. Assuming it doesn't, it must be in itself, in spite of not satisfying its own membership criterion. This is the paradox.

See Also

NEW! Hard Problems DVD
A documentary about the 2006 US IMO team. Features many current and past AoPS members!
Click here for more details and to order
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