Least-upper-bound property

In mathematics, the least-upper-bound property (sometimes the completeness or supremum property) is a fundamental property of the real numbers and certain other ordered sets. A set X has the least-upper-bound property if and only if every non-empty subset of X with an upper bound has a least upper bound (supremum) in X.

The least-upper-bound property is one form of the completeness axiom for the real numbers, and is sometimes referred to as Dedekind completeness. It can be used to prove many of the fundamental results of real analysis, such as the intermediate value theorem, the Bolzano–Weierstrass theorem, the extreme value theorem, and the Heine–Borel theorem. It is usually taken as an axiom in synthetic constructions of the real numbers (see least upper bound axiom), and it is also intimately related to the construction of the real numbers using Dedekind cuts.

In order theory, this property can be generalized to a notion of completeness for any partially ordered set. A linearly ordered set that is dense and has the least upper bound property is called a linear continuum.

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