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arXiv 1807.05641math.LO
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算术的一致性

The Consistency of Arithmetic

Timothy Y. Chow

摘要:

2010年,弗拉基米尔·沃斯基做了一个关于“如果当前的数学基础不一致怎么办?他说,他非常怀疑有一天可能会发现PA(一阶皮亚诺算术)中的不一致性,大约一年后,爱德华·纳尔逊宣布,他不仅在PA中发现了不一致性,而且在原始递归算术的一小部分中也发现了不一致性。很快,Daniel Tausk和Terence Tao独立发现了一个致命错误,Nelson撤回了他的说法,称PA的一致性是一个“悬而未决的问题”。“许多数学家可能会发现这样的说法令人困惑。PA的一致性真的是一个开放的问题吗?如果是这样的话,PA中不一致的发现会导致所有的数学像纸牌屋一样倒塌吗?本文试图解决这些问题,通过勾勒和讨论现有的证明PA的一致性(包括根岑的证明和弗里德曼的相对兼容性证明,呼吁Bolzano-Weierstrass定理)。由于纳尔逊是一个自称的形式主义者,本文还探讨了形式主义的含义。

英文摘要:

In 2010, Vladimir Voevodsky gave a lecture on "What If Current Foundations of Mathematics Are Inconsistent?" Among other things he said that he was seriously suspicious that an inconsistency in PA (first-order Peano arithmetic) might someday be found. About a year later, Edward Nelson announced that he had discovered an inconsistency not just in PA, but in a small fragment of primitive recursive arithmetic. Soon, Daniel Tausk and Terence Tao independently found a fatal error, and Nelson withdrew his claim, stating that consistency of PA was an "open problem." Many mathematicians may find such claims bewildering. Is the consistency of PA really an open problem? If so, would the discovery of an inconsistency in PA cause all of mathematics to come crashing down like a house of cards? This expository article attempts to address these questions, by sketching and discussing existing proofs of the consistency of PA (including Gentzen's proof and Friedman's relative consistency proof that appeals to the Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem). Since Nelson was a self-avowed formalist, the article also examines the implications of formalism.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

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