cardinality

American  

[kahr-dn-al-i-tee] / ˌkɑr dnˈæl ɪ ti /

noun

Mathematics.

plural

cardinalities

1. (of a set) the cardinal number indicating the number of elements in the set.

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cardinality British  

/ ˌkɑːdɪˈnælɪtɪ /

noun

1. maths the property of possessing a cardinal number

2. maths logic (of a class) the cardinal number associated with the given class. Two classes have the same cardinality if they can be put in one-to-one correspondence

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Etymology

Origin of cardinality

First recorded in 1930–35; cardinal + -ity

Example Sentences

But if you can assign exactly one seat to each person, then both sets are exactly the same size and thus have the same cardinality.

From Scientific American • Jul. 13, 2023

Not only is the cardinality of natural and even numbers the same, the trick with mapping two sets can be applied to other examples as well.

From Scientific American • Jul. 13, 2023

It states that there is no set whose cardinality lies between that of the natural numbers and that of the real numbers.

From Scientific American • Jul. 13, 2023

In my own past research with young children, it seemed to me that their thinking about numbers was more closely related to Giuseppe Peano's basic concept of “successor” than cardinality or quantity.

From Scientific American • Jul. 1, 2023

But as zero came into the fold, the neat relationship between a number’s cardinality and its ordinality was ruined.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife