A Cheerful Introduction to Forcing and the Continuum Hypothesis

Abstract

This is an introduction to the set-theoretic method of forcing, including its application in proving the independence of the Continuum Hypothesis from the Zermelo-Fraenkel axioms of set theory. I presuppose no particular mathematical background beyond some familiarity with set theory and mathematical logic - in particular, no algebra is presupposed, though it can be useful. The goal is to have a document that makes this material accessible to mathematics graduate students in all fields, and to philosophers with an interest in set theory and mathematical logic but no other mathematical background.