Ordinal notation
In mathematical logic and set theory, an ordinal notation is a partial function from the set of all finite sequences of symbols from a finite alphabet to a countable set of ordinals, and a Gödel numbering is a function from the set of well-formed formulae (a well-formed formula is a finite sequence of symbols on which the ordinal notation function is defined) of some formal language to the natural numbers. This associates each wff with a unique natural number, called its Gödel number. If a Gödel numbering is fixed, then the subset relation on the ordinals induces an ordering on well-formed formulae which in turn induces a well-ordering on the subset of natural numbers. A recursive ordinal notation must satisfy the following two additional properties: