Home›Open Questions›Is there really a size of infinity strictly between the integers and the real numbers, and if not, does that fact hold absolutely or only relative to which further axioms mathematicians choose to accept?Open QuestionsIs there really a size of infinity strictly between the integers and the real numbers, and if not, does that fact hold absolutely or only relative to which further axioms mathematicians choose to accept?Citation FormatsGeneral ReferenceGeneral Reference Citation TextMathematics Atlas. "Is there really a size of infinity strictly between the integers and the real numbers, and if not, does that fact hold absolutely or only relative to which further axioms mathematicians choose to accept?." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-mathematics.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/continuum-hypothesis-open-question.Copy General ReferenceAPA StyleAPA Style Citation TextMathematics Atlas. (n.d.). Is there really a size of infinity strictly between the integers and the real numbers, and if not, does that fact hold absolutely or only relative to which further axioms mathematicians choose to accept?. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-mathematics.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/continuum-hypothesis-open-questionCopy APA StyleBibTeXBibTeX Citation Text@misc{mathematicsatlas-is-there-really-a-size-of-infinity-stric, author = {Mathematics Atlas}, title = {Is there really a size of infinity strictly between the integers and the real numbers, and if not, does that fact hold absolutely or only relative to which further axioms mathematicians choose to accept?}, year = {2026}, url = {https://dev-mathematics.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/continuum-hypothesis-open-question}, note = {Accessed August 30, 2026} }Copy BibTeXOpen QuestionCross-Tradition ConnectionsSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)Open QuestionGodel (1940) and Cohen (1963) proved that the continuum hypothesis can be neither proved nor disproved from the standard ZFC axioms of set theory. That result closes the question of what ZFC alone can say, but it opens a harder one: whether CH has a determinate truth value at all, and if so what further axiom would reveal it. Mathematicians who accept that set theory describes a single true universe of sets, Godel among them, hold this is a real unanswered question rather than a dead end; committed formalists tend to hold there is nothing further to ask.What would resolve this Either a broadly accepted new axiom for set theory, beyond ZFC, that settles CH one way or the other and gains the kind of consensus ZFC itself enjoys, or a philosophical argument persuasive enough to convince most set theorists that the independence result is the end of the matter rather than the start of a harder question.OpenMathematical logic and set theoryContinuum Hypothesis (Wikipedia)Cross-Tradition ConnectionsQuestion OnContinuum Hypothesis, Conjectures Well-attested Source Continuum Hypothesis (Wikipedia)tier 2SourcesContinuum Hypothesis (Wikipedia)tier 2Wikimedia FoundationArguments for and against sectionView the SourceComments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.View At A Past YearThe atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.Show This Year