Britannica AI Icon

Quick Summary

An ultrapower is a construction in model theory used to create new mathematical structures from existing ones. It involves an ultrafilter, which is a special collection of subsets of a set I. This ultrafilter defines a notion of "almost all" subsets.

When applied to a family of identical structures, an ultrafilter helps form an ultraproduct, which is then called an ultrapower. A key property is that a sentence is true in the ultrapower if and only if it is true in "almost all" of the original structures. This technique is foundational for nonstandard analysis, providing a rigorous basis for concepts like infinitesimals.12

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.