Related papers: Cheryl's Birthday
This is a set of 288 questions written for a Moore-style course in Mathematical Logic. I have used these (or some variation) four times in a beginning graduate course. Topics covered are: propositional logic axioms of ZFC wellorderings and…
In 1994, P.-G. Becker and W. Bergweiler listed all the differentially algebraic solutions of three famous functional equations: the Schr{\"o}der's, B{\"o}ttcher's and Abel's equations. The proof of this theorem combines various domains of…
In this paper, we introduce the notion of a $(a,b)$-rectangle pattern on permutations that not only generalizes the notion of successive elements (bonds) in permutations, but is also related to mesh patterns introduced recently by…
The fermion generation puzzle has survived into this century as one of the great mysteries in particle physics. We consider here a possible solution within the Standard Model framework based on a nonabelian generalization of…
This paper is an adaptation of the introduction to a book project by the late Mitchell J. Feigenbaum (1944-2019). While Feigenbaum is certainly mostly known for his theory of period doubling cascades, he had a lifelong interest in optics.…
A random jigsaw puzzle is constructed by arranging $n^2$ square pieces into an $n \times n$ grid and assigning to each edge of a piece one of $q$ available colours uniformly at random, with the restriction that touching edges receive the…
Pencil puzzles are puzzles that can be solved by writing down solutions on a paper, using only logical reasoning. In this paper, we utilize the "T-metacell" framework developed by Tang and the MIT Hardness Group to prove the NP-completeness…
I discuss puzzles that require thinking outside the box. I also discuss the box inside of which many people think.
An event structure is a mathematical abstraction modeling concepts as causality, conflict and concurrency between events. While many other mathematical structures, including groups, topological spaces, rings, abound with algorithms and…
This is a prelude to a book which I intend to publish. This paper describes my temporary thoughts on Einstein's pathway to the special theory of relativity. See my papers on my thoughts on Einstein's pathway to his general theory of…
This paper offers a new concept of {\it possibility} as an alternative to the now-a-days standard concept originally introduced by L.A. Zadeh in 1978. This new version was inspired by the original but, formally, has nothing in common with…
In this paper, we present a curious experiment with the hot list strategy in solving sliding block puzzles by paramodulation. The hot list strategy is one of the look-ahead strategies using paramodulation in automated reasoning. We define…
In honor of Alan Turing's hundredth birthday, I unwisely set out some thoughts about one of Turing's obsessions throughout his life, the question of physics and free will. I focus relatively narrowly on a notion that I call "Knightian…
In the process of studying a conjecture of Holly M. Green and Martin W. Liebeck, we obtain two interesting identities by elementary methods, one is a combinatorial identity, and the other is a number theoretic identity.
Classical probability theory is formulated using sets. In this paper, we extend classical probability theory with propositional computability logic. Unlike other formalisms, computability logic is built on the notion of events/games, which…
Birthday problem is a well-known classic problem in probability theory widely applied in cryptography, and bubble sort is a popular sorting algorithm leading to some interesting theoretical problems in computer science. However, the…
This is an extended essay review of Tanya and Jeffrey Bub's Totally Random: Why Nobody Understands Quantum Mechanics: A serious comic on entanglement. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press (2018), ISBN: 9780691176956, 272 pp.,…
The black hole information problem has been a challenge since Hawking's original 1975 paper. It led to the discovery of AdS/CFT, which gave a partial resolution of the paradox. However, recent developments, in particular the firewall…
The four authors present their speculations about the future developments of mathematical logic in the twenty-first century. The areas of recursion theory, proof theory and logic for computer science, model theory, and set theory are…
This paper serves as the announcement of my program---a joke version of the Langlands Program. In connection with this program, I discuss an old hat puzzle, introduce a new hat puzzle, and offer a puzzle for the reader.