The term "continuum" has (at least) two distinct technical meanings in mathematics.
The first is a compact connected metric space (Kuratowski 1968; Lewis 1983, pp. 361-394; Nadler 1992; Prajs and Charatonik).
The second is the nondenumerable set of real numbers, denoted 
.
The continuum 
satisfies
 |
(1)
|
and
 |
(2)
|
where 
is aleph0
(Aleph-0) and 
is a positive integer. It is also true that
 |
(3)
|
for 
. However,
 |
(4)
|
is a set larger than the continuum. Paradoxically, there are exactly as many points 
on a line (or line segment)
as in a plane, a three-dimensional space,
or finite hyperspace, since all these sets
can be put into a one-to-one correspondence
with each other.
The continuum hypothesis, first proposed by Georg Cantor, holds that the cardinal number of the continuum is the same as that of aleph1. The surprising truth is that this proposition is undecidable, since neither it nor its converse contradicts the tenets of set theory.
