Related papers: Two Answers to a Common Question on Diagonalizatio…

In this expository article, the real numbers are defined as infinite decimals. After defining an ordering relation and the arithmetic operations, it is shown that the set of real numbers is a complete ordered field. It is further shown that…

We discuss some examples that illustrate the countability of the positive rational numbers and related sets. Techniques include radix representations, Godel numbering, the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, continued fractions, Egyptian…

The uncountability of the real numbers is one of their most basic properties, known (far) outside of mathematics. Cantor's 1874 proof of the uncountability of the real numbers even appears in the very first paper on set theory, i.e. a…

Based upon the axiom of choice it is proved that the cardinality of the rational numbers is not less than the cardinality of the irrational numbers. This contradicts a main result of transfinite set theory and shows that the axiom of choice…

The well known binary and decimal representations of the integers, and other similar number systems, admit many generalisations. Here, we investigate whether still every integer could have a finite expansion on a given integer base b, when…

A natural number N is said to be palindromic if its binary representation reads the same forwards and backwards. In this paper we study the quotients of two palindromic numbers and answer some basic questions about the resulting sets of…

Diophantine approximation is the problem of approximating a real number by rational numbers. We propose a version of this in which the numerators are approximately related to the denominators by a Laurent polynomial. Our definition is…

Whatever other beliefs there may remain for considering Cantor's diagonal argument as mathematically legitimate, there are three that, prima facie, lend it an illusory legitimacy; they need to be explicitly discounted appropriately. The…

When formalized, some diagonal arguments do not show the diagonal object to be impossible but rather reveal some other anomaly (e.g., that one of the relevant sets is ill-defined). This raises the possibility that some diagonal arguments…

For more than a century, Cantor's theory of transfinite numbers has played a pivotal role in set theory, with ramifications that extend to many areas of mathematics. This article extends earlier findings with a fresh look at the critical…

We firstly show that the standard interpretation of natural quantification in mathematical logic does not provide a satisfying account of its original richness. In particular, it ignores the difference between generic and distributive…

By closely rereading the original Turing's 1936 article, we can gain insight about that it is based on the claim to have defined a number which is not computable, arguing that there can be no machine computing the diagonal on the…

Since the diagonal lemma plays a key role in the proof of the main limitative theorems of logic, its proof could shed light on the very essence of these fundamental theorems. Yet the lemma is often characterized as one of those important…

This article critically reappraises arguments in support of Cantor's theory of transfinite numbers. The following results are reported: i) Cantor's proofs of nondenumerability are refuted by analyzing the logical inconsistencies in…

Based on continued fractions with subtractions, we identify the set of real numbers with the set of infinite integer sequences with all terms but the first one greater or equal to two. Each such sequence produces in a canonical way a unique…

In this paper I introduce a new and intuitive first-order foundational theory (where the concept of set is not primitive) and use it to show that the power set of an infinite set does not exist. In particular, proofs of uncountability of a…

This paper provides some counterexamples to Cantor's contributions to the foundations of Set Theory. The first counterexample forces Cantor's Diagonal Method (DM) to yield one of the numbers in the target list. To study this anomaly, and…

Transfinite set theory including the axiom of choice supplies the following basic theorems: (1) Mappings between infinite sets can always be completed, such that at least one of the sets is exhausted. (2) The real numbers can be well…

Axiomatizing mathematical structures is a goal of Mathematical Logic. Axiomatizability of the theories of some structures have turned out to be quite difficult and challenging, and some remain open. However axiomatization of some…

Real numbers do not admit an extensional procedure for observing discrete information, such as the first digit of its decimal expansion, because every extensional, computable map from the reals to the integers is constant, as is well known.…