English

Giant and illusionary giant Goodstein principles

Logic 2020-07-20 v1

Abstract

We analyze several natural Goodstein principles which themselves are defined with respect to the Ackermann function and the extended Ackermann function. These Ackermann functions are well established canonical fast growing functions labeled by ordinals not exceeding ε0\varepsilon_0. Among the Goodsteinprinciples under consideration, the giant ones, will be proof-theoretically strong (being unprovable in PA\mathrm{PA} in the Ackermannian case and being unprovable in ID1\mathrm{ID}_1 in the extended Ackermannian case) whereas others, the illusionary giant ones, will turn out to be comparatively much much weaker although they look strong at first sight.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2007.09086,
  title  = {Giant and illusionary giant Goodstein principles},
  author = {Andreas Weiermann},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2007.09086},
  year   = {2020}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T17:12:06.086Z