choice axiom | Zermelo's axiom of choice

An important and fundamental axiom in set theory sometimes called Zermelo's axiom of choice. It was formulated by Zermelo in 1904 and states that, given any set of mutually disjoint nonempty sets, there exists at least one set that contains exactly one element in common with each of the nonempty sets. The axiom of choice is related to the first of Hilbert's problems. In Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory (in the form omitting the axiom of choice), Zorn's lemma, the trichotomy law, and the well ordering principle are equivalent to the axiom of choice. In contexts sensitive to the axiom of choice, the notation "ZF" is often used to denote Zermelo-Fraenkel without the axiom of choice, while "ZFC" is used if the axiom of choice is included.

Hilbert's problems | von Neumann-Bernays-Gödel set theory | well ordered set | well ordering principle | Zermelo-Fraenkel axioms | Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory | Zorn's lemma