2c is the order of the power set of a continuum; this uses the letter c to represent the order of the continuum, that is, the number of real numbers. This can be visualised as the number of scalar-valued functions of one variable, or in fact, the number of rank-N fields of D dimensions for any finite values N and D.

2c is equal to ‭א‬2 only if the generalized continuum hypothesis holds true, which is generally believed to not be the case.


This article or a past revision is based on the Mandelbrot Set Glossary and Encyclopedia, © 1987-2003 Robert P. Munafo, which is made available under the terms of the GNU FDL.