Definition:Cofinal Relation on Ordinals

Definition
Let $x$ and $y$ be ordinals.

Then $y$ is said to be cofinal with respect to $x$ there exists a mapping $f: y \to x$ such that:


 * $(1): \quad y \le x$
 * $(2): \quad f$ is strictly increasing.
 * $(3): \quad$ For all $a \in x$, there is some $b \in y$ such that $\map f b \ge a$.

Notation
If $y$ is cofinal with $x$, the notation $\map {\mathrm {cof} } {x, y}$ can be used.

Warning
$\mathrm {cof}$ is not symmetric. In fact, it is antisymmetric.

Also see

 * Definition:Cofinal Subset