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A real number x is the least upper bound (or supremum) for S if x is an upper bound for S and x ≤ y for every upper bound y of S. The least-upper-bound property states that any non-empty set of real numbers that has an upper bound must have a least upper bound in real numbers .
There is a corresponding greatest-lower-bound property; an ordered set possesses the greatest-lower-bound property if and only if it also possesses the least-upper-bound property; the least-upper-bound of the set of lower bounds of a set is the greatest-lower-bound, and the greatest-lower-bound of the set of upper bounds of a set is the least ...
If (,) is a partially ordered set, such that each pair of elements in has a meet, then indeed = if and only if , since in the latter case indeed is a lower bound of , and since is the greatest lower bound if and only if it is a lower bound. Thus, the partial order defined by the meet in the universal algebra approach coincides with the original ...
The rational number line Q does not have the least upper bound property. An example is the subset of rational numbers = {<}. This set has an upper bound. However, this set has no least upper bound in Q: the least upper bound as a subset of the reals would be √2, but it does not exist in Q.
Part of what this argument shows is that there is a least upper bound of the sequence 0.9, 0.99, 0.999, etc.: the smallest number that is greater than all of the terms of the sequence. One of the axioms of the real number system is the completeness axiom, which states that every bounded sequence has a least upper bound.
Thus, the infimum or meet of a collection of subsets is the greatest lower bound while the supremum or join is the least upper bound. In this context, the inner limit, lim inf X n, is the largest meeting of tails of the sequence, and the outer limit, lim sup X n, is the smallest joining of tails of the sequence. The following makes this precise.
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A lattice is an abstract structure studied in the mathematical subdisciplines of order theory and abstract algebra.It consists of a partially ordered set in which every pair of elements has a unique supremum (also called a least upper bound or join) and a unique infimum (also called a greatest lower bound or meet).