Although the axiom schema of separation has a constructive quality, further means of constructing sets from existing sets must be introduced if some of the desirable features of Cantorian set theory are to be established. Three axioms in the table—axiom of pairing, axiom of union, and axiom of power set—are of this sort.

By using five of the axioms (2–6), a variety of basic concepts of naive set theory (e.g., the operations of union, intersection, and Cartesian product; the notions of relation, equivalence relation, ordering relation, and function) can be defined with ZFC. Further, the standard results about these concepts that were attainable in naive set theory can be proved as theorems of ZFC.

Axioms for infinite and ordered sets

If I is an interpretation of an axiomatic theory of sets, the sentence that results from an axiom when a meaning has been assigned to “set” and “∊,” as specified by I, is either true or false. If each axiom is true for I, then I is called a model of the theory. If the domain of a model is infinite, this fact does not imply that any object of the domain is an “infinite set.” An infinite set in the latter sense is an object d of the domain D of I for which there is an infinity of distinct objects d′ in D such that d′Ed holds (E standing for the interpretation of ∊). Though the domain of any model of the theory of which the axioms thus far discussed are axioms is clearly infinite, models in which every set is finite have been devised. For the full development of classical set theory, including the theories of real numbers and of infinite cardinal numbers, the existence of infinite sets is needed; thus the “axiom of infinity” is included. (See the table.)

The existence of a unique minimal set ω having properties expressed in the axiom of infinity can be proved; its distinct members are Ø, {Ø}, {Ø, {Ø}}, {Ø, {Ø}, {Ø, {Ø}}}, … . These elements are denoted by 0, 1, 2, 3, … and are called natural numbers. Justification for this terminology rests with the fact that the Peano postulates (five axioms published in 1889 by the Italian mathematician Giuseppe Peano), which can serve as a base for arithmetic, can be proved as theorems in set theory. Thereby the way is paved for the construction within ZFC of entities that have all the expected properties of the real numbers.

The origin of the axiom of choice (axiom 8 in the table) was Cantor’s recognition of the importance of being able to “well-order” arbitrary sets—i.e., to define an ordering relation for a given set such that each nonempty subset has a least element. The virtue of a well-ordering for a set is that it offers a means of proving that a property holds for each of its elements by a process (transfinite induction) similar to mathematical induction. Zermelo (1904) gave the first proof that any set can be well-ordered. His proof employed a set-theoretic principle that he called the “axiom of choice,” which, shortly thereafter, was shown to be equivalent to the so-called well-ordering theorem.

Intuitively, the axiom of choice asserts the possibility of making a simultaneous choice of an element in every nonempty member of any set; this guarantee accounts for its name. The assumption is significant only when the set has infinitely many members. Zermelo was the first to state explicitly the axiom, although it had been used but essentially unnoticed earlier (see also Zorn’s lemma). It soon became the subject of vigorous controversy because of its nonconstructive nature. Some mathematicians rejected it totally on this ground. Others accepted it but avoided its use whenever possible. Some changed their minds about it when its equivalence with the well-ordering theorem was proved as well as the assertion that any two cardinal numbers c and d are comparable (i.e., that exactly one of c < d, d < c, c = d holds). There are many other equivalent statements, though even today a few mathematicians feel that the use of the axiom of choice is improper. To the vast majority, however, it, or an equivalent assertion, has become an indispensable and commonplace tool. (Because of this controversy, ZFC was adopted as an acronym for the majority position with the axiom of choice and ZF for the minority position without the axiom of choice.)