von neumann integer

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Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

von Neumann integer

<mathematics> A finite von Neumann ordinal.

The von Neumann integer N is a finite set with N elements which are the von Neumann integers 0 to N-1. Thus

0 = = 1 = 0 = 2 = 0, 1 = , 3 = 0, 1, 2 = , , , ...

The set of von Neumann integers is infinite, even though each of its elements is finite. [Origin of name?]

(1995-03-30)

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