In set theory, a branch of mathematics, the difference hierarchy over a pointclass is a hierarchy of larger pointclassesgenerated by taking differences of sets. If Γ is a pointclass, then the set of differences in Γ is
\{A:\existsC,D\in\Gamma(A=C\setminusD)\}
\{A:\existsC,D,E\in\Gamma(A=C\setminus(D\setminusE))\}
In the Borel hierarchy, Felix Hausdorff and Kazimierz Kuratowski proved that the countable levels of the difference hierarchy over Π0γ giveΔ0γ+1.[2]