English

Fusible numbers and Peano Arithmetic

Logic in Computer Science 2023-06-22 v9 Combinatorics Logic

Abstract

Inspired by a mathematical riddle involving fuses, we define the "fusible numbers" as follows: 00 is fusible, and whenever x,yx,y are fusible with yx<1|y-x|<1, the number (x+y+1)/2(x+y+1)/2 is also fusible. We prove that the set of fusible numbers, ordered by the usual order on R\mathbb R, is well-ordered, with order type ε0\varepsilon_0. Furthermore, we prove that the density of the fusible numbers along the real line grows at an incredibly fast rate: Letting g(n)g(n) be the largest gap between consecutive fusible numbers in the interval [n,)[n,\infty), we have g(n)1Fε0(nc)g(n)^{-1} \ge F_{\varepsilon_0}(n-c) for some constant cc, where FαF_\alpha denotes the fast-growing hierarchy. Finally, we derive some true statements that can be formulated but not proven in Peano Arithmetic, of a different flavor than previously known such statements: PA cannot prove the true statement "For every natural number nn there exists a smallest fusible number larger than nn." Also, consider the algorithm "M(x)M(x): if x<0x<0 return x-x, else return M(xM(x1))/2M(x-M(x-1))/2." Then MM terminates on real inputs, although PA cannot prove the statement "MM terminates on all natural inputs."

Cite

@article{arxiv.2003.14342,
  title  = {Fusible numbers and Peano Arithmetic},
  author = {Jeff Erickson and Gabriel Nivasch and Junyan Xu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2003.14342},
  year   = {2023}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T14:34:06.193Z