axiom of choice

Meanings

1. One of the axioms of set theory, equivalent to the statement that an arbitrary direct product of non-empty sets is non-empty; any version of said axiom, for example specifying the cardinality of the number of sets from which choices are made.

Etymology

A calque of German Axiom der Auswahl (now more commonly Auswahlaxiom), which first appeared in print with a description of the axiom in 1908, Ernst Zermelo, Untersuchungen über die Grundlagen der Mengenlehre I ["Investigations in the foundations of set theory I"], Mathematische Annalen, 65 (although the paper was dated 1907).