Related papers: De Divino Errore
We give a new proof for Godel's second incompleteness theorem, based on Kolmogorov complexity, Chaitin's incompleteness theorem, and an argument that resembles the surprise examination paradox. We then go the other way around and suggest…
We show that there exists a bitsequence that is not computably random for which its odd bits are computably random and its even bits are computably random relative to the odd bits. This implies that the uniform variant of van Lambalgen's…
A perfect number is a number whose divisors add up to twice the number itself. The existence of odd perfect numbers is a millennia-old unsolved problem. This note proposes a proof of the nonexistence of odd perfect numbers. More generally,…
In his book \emph{Topics in Analytic Number Theory}, Hans Rademacher conjectured that the limits of certain sequences of coefficients that arise in the ordinary partial fraction decomposition of the generating function for partitions of…
This note provides a counterexample to a theorem announced in the last part of the paper ''Analysis of direct searches for discontinuous functions'', Mathematical Programming Vol. 133, pp.~299--325, 2012. The counterexample involves an…
This paper looks at how ancient mathematicians (and especially the Pythagorean school) were faced by problems/paradoxes associated with the infinite which led them to juggle two systems of numbers: the discrete whole/rationals which were…
In this paper, a detrimental mathematical mistake is pointed out in the proof of \textit{Theorem 1} presented in the paper\textit{ [Generalization of the gradient method with fractional order gradient direction, J. Franklin Inst., 357…
This paper attributes the sudden emergence of mathematical probability and statistics in the second half of the seventeenth century to Calvin's Reformed theology. Calvin accommodated Epicurean chance with Stoic determinism and synthesised…
We examine the classical/intuitionist divide, and how it reflects on modern theories of infinitesimals. When leading intuitionist Heyting announced that "the creation of non-standard analysis is a standard model of important mathematical…
In \cite{Lyon24} the question of the decidability of quasi-dense modal logics is answered, and an upper bound in $\EXPSPACE$ is given. Unfortunately, authors' intricate proof seems to contain a major flaw that cannot be fixed, leaving the…
Pirillo and Varricchio, and independently, Halbeisen and Hungerbuhler considered the following problem, open since 1994: Does there exist an infinite word w over a finite subset of Z such that w contains no two consecutive blocks of the…
A set of $n$ points in the Euclidean plane determines at least $n$ distinct lines unless these $n$ points are collinear. In 2006, Chen and Chv\'atal asked whether the same statement holds true in general metric spaces, where the line…
From the first approach to General Relativity we learn about the Christoffel symbols, and it is easy to notice that their coordinated components do not transform as a tensor. It is then confusing to find renowned books on the subject that…
We provide Dutch-book arguments against misspecified Bayesian learning. An agent progressively learns about a state and is offered a bet after every discovery. We say the agent is deterministically Dutch-booked when they would accept all…
The famous G\"odel incompleteness theorem says that for every sufficiently rich formal theory (containing formal arithmetic in some natural sense) there exist true unprovable statements. Such statements would be natural candidates for being…
Based on the $\kappa$-deformed functions ($\kappa$-exponential and $\kappa$-logarithm) and associated multiplication operation ($\kappa$-product) introduced by Kaniadakis (Phys. Rev. E \textbf{66} (2002) 056125), we present another…
Some unfortunate errors from our paper math/0505591 are corrected.
We provide a generalization of the Phragm\'en-Lindel\"of principal of Rademacher with the aim of correcting, or at least provide a pathway to correcting, several errors appearing in the literature.
In this short note,we correct a well-known counter example of the famous book of Dacorogna[2].
Eugene Wigner famously argued for the "unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics" for describing physics and other natural sciences in his 1960 essay. That essay has now led to some 55 years of (sometimes anguished) soul searching ---…