A subset
of the real numbers is said to be a
set provided
is the countable intersection of open sets. The name
comes from German: The G stands
for Gebiet, meaning "area," while the
stands for Durchschnitt, meaning "intersection."
This definition is dual to that of an Fsigma set in the sense that
is a
set if and only if its complement
is an
.
Note that both
and
sets are fundamental to measure
theory. In particular, both types of sets are Borel
sets and are considered to be the second level of the so-called Borel
hierarchy.