Are there elements in $^$ that aren't games?

194 Views Asked by At

The text bellow is just an explanation of the title, if you understood the title you don't have to read the text.

Games are defined by the rule "If L and R are two sets of games, then { L | R } is a game". If we also add the rule "Each element of L must be strictly less than each element of R", then we get the surreal numbers, $$. By adding this rule, we loose some games, e.g $$ and $*$ are games that aren't in $$.

There are gaps in $$ and the completion of $$ is called $^$(see link at bottom for clarification). When you construct $^$ you get back some of the games you lost when you constructed $$. $$ is an example of a game that is also in $^$($*$ however is not in $^$).

My question is this: Do you get any brand new elements when you construct $^$, elements that weren't games first?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surreal_number#Gaps_and_continuity

1

There are 1 best solutions below

6
On BEST ANSWER

In the question, it was written that "$\mathbf{On}$ and $*$ are games", but $\mathbf{On}$ is a gap that is not a game, because you can't get something equal to $\mathbf{On}$ with mere sets (as opposed to proper classes) in the left and right positions.

Any game with sets in the left and right positions is less than, say, the game/surreal $x=\{\kappa^+|\,\}$ where $\kappa$ is the cardinality for the depth of the game tree. And $x<\mathbf{On}$.

The gap $\infty$ mentioned in the wikipedia page is also not equal to a game, but that's less immediate.

(Also, readers should be careful not to confuse the gap $\mathbf{On}=\{\mathbf{No}|\,\}$ with the loopy game $\mathrm{on}=\{\mathrm{on}|\,\}$.)