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In [[mathematical logic]] and [[set theory]], an '''ordinal notation''' is a finite sequence of symbols from a finite alphabet which names an [[ordinal number]] according to some scheme which gives meaning to the language.

There are many such schemes of ordinal notations, including schemes by [[Wilhelm Ackermann]], [[Heinz Bachmann]], Wilfried Buchholz, [[Georg Cantor]], [[Solomon Feferman]], Gerhard Jäger, Isles, Pfeiffer,   Wolfram Pohlers, [[Kurt Schütte]], [[Gaisi Takeuti]] (called '''ordinal diagrams'''),  [[Oswald Veblen]]. Given such a scheme, one should be able to define a [[recursive set|recursive]] [[well-order]]ing of a subset of the natural numbers by associating a natural number with each finite sequence of symbols via a [[Gödel numbering]]. [[Stephen Cole Kleene]] has a system of notations, called [[Kleene's O]], which includes ordinal notations but it is not as well behaved as the other systems described here.

Usually one proceeds by defining several functions from ordinals to ordinals and representing each such function by a symbol. In many systems, such as Veblen's well known system, the functions are normal functions, that is, they are strictly increasing and continuous in at least one of their arguments, and increasing in other arguments. Another desirable property for such functions is that the value of the function is greater than each of its arguments, so that an ordinal is always being described in terms of smaller ordinals. There are several such desirable properties. Unfortunately, no one system can have all of them since they contradict each other.

==A simplified example using a pairing function==
As usual, we must start off with a constant symbol for zero, "0", which we may consider to be a zero-ary function. This is necessary because there are no smaller ordinals in terms of which zero can be described.  The most obvious next step would be to define a unary function, "S", which takes an ordinal to the smallest ordinal greater than it; in other words, S is the successor function. In combination with zero, successor allows one to name any natural number.

The third function might be defined as one which maps each ordinal to the smallest ordinal which cannot yet be described with the above two functions and previous values of this function. This would map β to ω&middot;β except when β is a fixed point of that function plus a finite number in which case one uses ω&middot;(β+1).

The fourth function would map α to ω<sup>ω</sup>&middot;α except when α is a fixed point of that plus a finite number in which case one uses ω<sup>ω</sup>&middot;(α+1).

===&xi;-notation===

One could continue in this way, but it would give us an infinite number of functions. So instead let us merge the unary functions together into a binary function. By transfinite recursion on α, we can use transfinite recursion on β to define ξ(α,β) = the smallest ordinal γ such that α < γ and β < γ and γ is not the value of ξ for any smaller α or for the same α with a smaller β.

Thus, define ξ-notations as follows:
*"0" is a ξ-notation for zero.
*If "A" and "B" are replaced by ξ-notations for &alpha; and &beta; in "ξAB", then the result is a ξ-notation for ξ(α,β).
*There are no other ξ-notations.

ξ is defined for all pairs of ordinals and is one-to-one.  It always gives values larger than its arguments and its [[Range (mathematics)|range]] is all ordinals other than 0 and the epsilon numbers (ε=ω<sup>ε</sup>).

ξ(α,β)<ξ(γ,δ) if and only if either (α=γ and β<δ) or (α<γ and β<ξ(γ,δ)) or (α>γ and ξ(α,β)≤δ).

With this definition, the first few &xi;-notations are:
:"0" for 0. "ξ00" for 1. "ξ0ξ00" for ξ(0,1)=2. "ξξ000" for ξ(1,0)=ω. "ξ0ξ0ξ00" for 3. "ξ0ξξ000" for ω+1. "ξξ00ξ00" for ω&middot;2. "ξξ0ξ000" for ω<sup>ω</sup>. "ξξξ0000" for <math>\omega^{\omega^{\omega}}.</math>

In general, ξ(0,β) = β+1. While ξ(1+α,β) = ω<sup>ω<sup>α</sup></sup>&middot;(β+k) for k = 0 or 1 or 2 depending on special situations:<br>
k = 2 if α is an epsilon number and β is finite.<br>
Otherwise, k = 1 if β is a multiple of ω<sup>ω<sup>α+1</sup></sup> plus a finite number.<br>
Otherwise, k = 0.

The ξ-notations can be used to name any ordinal less than &epsilon;<sub>0</sub> with an alphabet of only two symbols ("0" and "ξ"). If these notations are extended by adding functions which enumerate epsilon numbers, then they will be able to name any ordinal less than the first epsilon number which cannot be named by the added functions. This last property, adding symbols within an initial segment of the ordinals gives names within that segment, is called repleteness (after [[Solomon Feferman]]).

==Systems of ordinal notation==
There are many different systems for ordinal notation introduced by various authors. It is often quite hard to convert between the different systems. 
===Cantor===
{{main|Cantor normal form}}
"Exponential polynomials" in 0 and &omega; gives a system of ordinal notation for ordinals less than [[epsilon zero]]. There are many equivalent ways to write these; instead of exponential polynomials, one can use rooted trees, or nested parentheses, or the system described above.

===Veblen===
{{main|Veblen function}}
The 2-variable Veblen functions {{harv|Veblen|1908}} can be used to give a system of ordinal notation for ordinals less than the [[Feferman-Schutte ordinal]]. The Veblen functions in a finite or transfinite number of variables give systems of ordinal notations for ordinals less than the small and large [[Veblen ordinal (disambiguation)|Veblen ordinal]]s.

===Ackermann===
{{harvtxt|Ackermann|1951}} described a system of ordinal notation rather weaker than the system described earlier by Veblen. The limit of his system is sometimes called the [[Ackermann ordinal]].

===Bachmann===
{{harvtxt|Bachmann|1950}} introduced the key idea of using uncountable ordinals to produce new countable ordinals. His original system was rather cumbersome to use as it required choosing a special sequence converging to each ordinal. Later systems of notation introduced by Feferman and others avoided this complication.

===Takeuti (ordinal diagrams)===
{{harvtxt|Takeuti|1987}} described a very powerful system of ordinal notation called "ordinal diagrams", which is hard to understand but was later simplified by Feferman.

===Feferman's &theta; functions===
Feferman introduced theta functions, described in {{harvtxt|Buchholz|1986}} as follows. 
The function for an ordinal &alpha;, &theta;<sub>&alpha;</sub> is a function from ordinals to ordinals. 
Often &theta;<sub>&alpha;</sub>(&beta;) is written as &theta;&alpha;&beta;. The set ''C''(&alpha;,&beta;) is defined by induction on &alpha; to be the set of ordinals that can be generated from 0, &alefsym;<sub>1</sub>, &alefsym;<sub>2</sub>,...,&alefsym;<sub>&omega;</sub>, together with the ordinals less than &beta; by the operations of ordinal addition and the functions &theta;<sub>&xi;</sub> for &xi;<&alpha;. And the function &theta;<sub>&gamma;</sub> is defined to be the function enumerating the ordinals &delta; with &delta;&notin;''C''(&gamma;,&delta;).

===Buchholz===
{{main|Ordinal collapsing function}}
{{harvtxt|Buchholz|1986}} described the following system of ordinal notation as a simplification of Feferman's theta functions. Define:
*&Omega;<sub>&xi;</sub> = &alefsym;<sub>&xi;</sub> if &xi; > 0, &Omega;<sub>0</sub> = 1
The  functions &psi;<sub>''v''</sub>(&alpha;) for &alpha; an ordinal, ''v'' an ordinal at most &omega;, are defined by induction on &alpha; as follows: 
*&psi;<sub>''v''</sub>(&alpha;) is the smallest ordinal not in ''C''<sub>''v''</sub>(&alpha;)
where ''C''<sub>''v''</sub>(&alpha;)  is the smallest set such that 
*''C''<sub>''v''</sub>(&alpha;) contains all ordinals less than &Omega;<sub>''v''</sub> 
*''C''<sub>''v''</sub>(&alpha;) is closed under ordinal addition
*''C''<sub>''v''</sub>(&alpha;) is closed under the functions &psi;<sub>''u''</sub> (for ''u''&le;&omega;) applied to arguments less than &alpha;.

This system has about the same strength as Fefermans system, as <math>\theta\epsilon_{\Omega_v+1}0 = \psi_0(\epsilon_{\Omega_v+1})</math> for ''v''&nbsp;&le;&nbsp;&omega;.

===Kleene's <math>\mathcal{O}</math>===
{{main|Kleene's O}}
{{harvtxt|Kleene|1938}} described a system of notation for all recursive ordinals (those less than the [[Church–Kleene ordinal]]). It uses a subset of the [[natural number]]s instead of finite strings of symbols. Unfortunately, unlike the other systems described above there is in general no [[computable function|effective]] way to tell whether some natural number represents an ordinal, or whether two numbers represent the same ordinal. However, one can effectively find notations which represent the ordinal sum, product, and power (see [[ordinal arithmetic]]) of any two given notations in Kleene's <math>\mathcal{O}</math>; and given any notation for an ordinal, there is a [[recursively enumerable set]] of notations which contains one element for each smaller ordinal and is effectively ordered. Kleene's <math>\mathcal{O}</math> denotes a canonical (and very non-computable) set of notations.

==See also==
*[[Large countable ordinals]]
*[[Ordinal arithmetic]]
*[[Ordinal analysis]]

==References==
*{{citation
|last=Ackermann|first= Wilhelm
|title=Konstruktiver Aufbau eines Abschnitts der zweiten Cantorschen Zahlenklasse
|journal=Math. Z. |volume=53|year=1951|pages= 403–413|doi=10.1007/BF01175640
|mr=0039669
|issue=5}}
*{{citation
|last=Buchholz|first= W.
|title=A new system of proof-theoretic ordinal functions
|journal=Ann. Pure Appl. Logic |volume=32 |year=1986|issue= 3|pages= 195–207
|doi=10.1016/0168-0072(86)90052-7
|mr=0865989}}
* "Constructive Ordinal Notation Systems" by Fredrick Gass
*{{citation|title=   On Notation for Ordinal Numbers
|first=        S. C.|last= Kleene 
|journal=        The Journal of Symbolic Logic|volume= 3|issue= 4|year= 1938|pages= 150–155 
|doi=   10.2307/2267778|publisher=   The Journal of Symbolic Logic, Vol. 3, No. 4|jstor=2267778}}
* "Hyperarithmetical Index Sets In Recursion Theory" by Stephen Lempp
* Hilbert Levitz, ''[http://www.cs.fsu.edu/~levitz/ords.ps Transfinite Ordinals and Their Notations: For The Uninitiated]'', expository article (8 pages, in [[PostScript]])
*{{citation|first=Larry W.|last= Miller|title=Normal Functions and Constructive Ordinal Notations|journal=The Journal of Symbolic Logic|volume =41|issue=2|year=1976|pages =439 to 459 |doi=10.2307/2272243|publisher=The Journal of Symbolic Logic, Vol. 41, No. 2|jstor=2272243}}
*{{citation|last=Pohlers|first=Wolfram |title=Proof theory
|series= Lecture Notes in Mathematics|volume= 1407|publisher= Springer-Verlag|place= Berlin|year= 1989|isbn= 3-540-51842-8|mr=1026933 }}
*{{Citation | last1=Rogers | first1=Hartley | title=The Theory of Recursive Functions and Effective Computability | origyear=1967 | publisher=First MIT press paperback edition | isbn=978-0-262-68052-3 | year=1987}}
*{{citation|last= Schütte|first= Kurt |title=Proof theory|series= Grundlehren der Mathematischen Wissenschaften|volume= 225|publisher= Springer-Verlag|place= Berlin-New York|year= 1977|pages= xii+299 | isbn= 3-540-07911-4|mr= 0505313}}
*{{citation|last= Takeuti|first= Gaisi |title=Proof theory|edition= Second |series= Studies in Logic and the Foundations of Mathematics|volume= 81|publisher= North-Holland Publishing Co.|place= Amsterdam|year=1987| isbn= 0-444-87943-9|mr= 0882549}}
*{{citation|title= Continuous Increasing Functions of Finite and Transfinite Ordinals
|first=        Oswald |last=Veblen 
|journal=        Transactions of the American Mathematical Society|volume= 9|issue= 3|year= 1908|pages=280–292 
|doi= 10.2307/1988605|publisher= Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, Vol. 9, No. 3|jstor=1988605}}


[[Category:Ordinal numbers]]
[[Category:Proof theory]]
[[Category:Mathematical notation]]