Singleton Class/Examples/Empty Set

Example of Singleton Class

The singleton class $\set \O$ is the class whose only element is the empty set $\O$.

Warning

It is important to distinguish between an element, for example $a$, and a singleton containing it, that is, $\set a$.

That is $a$ and $\set a$ are not the same thing.

While it is true that:

$a \in \set a$

it is not true that:

$a = \set a$

neither is it true that:

$a \in a$

Sources

• 2010: Raymond M. Smullyan and Melvin Fitting: Set Theory and the Continuum Problem (revised ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $2$: Some Basics of Class-Set Theory: $\S 4$ The pairing axiom