Gödel (1940) used the following eight operations as a set of Gödel operations (which he called fundamental operations):
The second expression in each line gives Gödel's definition in his original notation, where the dot means intersection, V is the universe, E is the membership relation, D {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {D}}} denotes range and so on. (Here the symbol ↾ {\displaystyle \upharpoonright } is used to restrict range, unlike the contemporary meaning of restriction.)
Jech (2003) uses the following set of 10 Gödel operations.
The reason for including the functions { ( x , y , z ) ∣ ( x , z , y ) ∈ X } {\displaystyle \{(x,y,z)\mid (x,z,y)\in X\}} and { ( x , y , z ) ∣ ( y , z , x ) ∈ X } {\displaystyle \{(x,y,z)\mid (y,z,x)\in X\}} which permute the entries of an ordered tuple is that, for example, the tuple ( x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , x 4 ) {\displaystyle (x_{1},x_{2},x_{3},x_{4})} can be formed easily from x 1 {\displaystyle x_{1}} and ( x 2 , x 3 , x 4 ) {\displaystyle (x_{2},x_{3},x_{4})} since it equals ( x 1 , ( x 2 , x 3 , x 4 ) ) {\displaystyle (x_{1},(x_{2},x_{3},x_{4}))} , but it is more difficult to form when the entries are given in a different order, such as from x 4 {\displaystyle x_{4}} and ( x 1 , x 2 , x 3 ) {\displaystyle (x_{1},x_{2},x_{3})} .1p. 63
Gödel's normal form theorem states that if ϕ ( x 1 , … , x n ) {\displaystyle \phi (x_{1},\ldots ,x_{n})} is a formula in the language of set theory with all quantifiers bounded, then the function { ( x 1 , … , x n ) ∈ X ∣ ( x 1 , … , x n ) ∈ ( X 1 × … × X n ) ∧ ϕ ( x 1 , … , x n ) } {\displaystyle \{(x_{1},\ldots ,x_{n})\in X\mid (x_{1},\ldots ,x_{n})\in (X_{1}\times \ldots \times X_{n})\land \phi (x_{1},\ldots ,x_{n})\}} of X 1 {\displaystyle X_{1}} , … {\displaystyle \ldots } , X n {\displaystyle X_{n}} is given by a composition of some Gödel operations. This result is closely related to Jensen's rudimentary functions.2
Jon Barwise showed that a version of Gödel's normal form theorem with his own set of 12 Gödel operations is provable in K P U {\displaystyle \mathrm {KPU} } , a variant of Kripke-Platek set theory admitting urelements.3p. 64
Barwise, Jon (1975). Admissible Sets and Structures. Perspectives in Mathematical Logic. Springer-Verlag. ISBN 3-540-07451-1. 3-540-07451-1 ↩
K. Devlin, An introduction to the fine structure of the constructible hierarchy (1974, p.11). Accessed 2022-02-26. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/30905237.pdf ↩