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Purpose
The paper's purpose is to show a class of well‐used methods in set theory is invalid.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual approach is taken.
Findings
Based on the concept of Cauchy theater introduced elsewhere, it is proven that the argument employing the diagonal method for the fact that the set of all real numbers R={x|r(x)}, where r(x)=df “x is a real number” has an uncountable cardinality, is not valid. The diagonal method has appeared in naive and modern axiomatic set theories.
Originality/value
Point out more paradoxes in the methodology of mathematics.
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2008
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