Successors are used to define the usual set-theoretic encoding of the natural numbers. In this encoding, zero is the empty set: 0 = {}. The number 1 is the successor of 0: 1 = 0 ∪ {0} = {} ∪ {0} = {0} = {{}}. Likewise, 2 is the successor of 1: 2 = 1 ∪ {1} = {0} ∪ {1} = {0,1} = { {}, {{}} }, and so on: 3 = {0,1,2} = { {}, {{}}, {{}, {{}}} }; 4 = {0,1,2,3} = { {}, {{}}, { {}, {{}} }, { {}, {{}}, {{}, {{}}} } }. A