Related papers: Predicatively unprovable termination of the Ackerm…
The original Goodstein process proceeds by writing natural numbers in nested exponential $k$-normal form, then successively raising the base to $k+1$ and subtracting one from the end result. Such sequences always reach zero, but this fact…
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…
The classical Goodstein process, defined via hereditary base-$k$ exponential normal form, is a well-known example of a principle unprovable in Peano Arithmetic. In this paper, we generalize this framework by constructing a new Goodstein…
Goodstein's principle is arguably the first purely number-theoretic statement known to be independent of Peano arithmetic. It involves sequences of natural numbers which at first appear to grow very quickly, but eventually decrease to zero.…
Goodstein sequences are numerical sequences in which a natural number m, expressed as the complete normal form to a given base a, is modified by increasing the value of the base a by one unit and subtracting one unit from the resulting…
We define a variant of the Goodstein process based on fast-growing functions and show that it terminates, but this fact is not provable in Kripke-Platek set theory or other theories of strength the Bachmann-Howard ordinal. We moreover show…
We assumed that, for every natural number k, there is a natural number u such that the (k-1)th term of G(u) is k^k, and that G(u) terminates finitely. It immediately follows that every Goodstein Sequence G(m) over the natural numbers must…
We present variants of Goodstein's theorem that are equivalent to arithmetical comprehension and to arithmetical transfinite recursion, respectively, over a weak base theory. These variants differ from the usual Goodstein theorem in that…
By affine arithmetic is meant the set of affine consequences of Peano arithmetic. This is a continuous theory which is studied in the framework of affine logic, a sublogic of continuous logic. Affine arithmetic is undecidable. Also, its…
Goodstein's argument is essentially that the hereditary representation m_{[b]} of any given natural number m in the natural number base b can be mirrored in Cantor Arithmetic, and used to well-define a finite decreasing sequence of…
In the late 1980s, Abrusci, Girard and van de Wiele defined a variant of Goodstein sequences: the so-called inverse Goodstein sequence. In their work, they show that it terminates precisely at the Bachmann-Howard ordinal. This reveals that…
The original Goodstein process is based on writing numbers in hereditary $b$-exponential normal form: that is, each number $n$ is written in some base $b\geq 2$ as $n=b^ea+r$, with $e$ and $r$ iteratively being written in hereditary…
Natural numbers are represented by Grzegorczyk functions. The representation is implicit in the technique of H. Friedman. An iterated base-shift in the representation with subtracting 1 yields a sequence, Grzegorczyk sequence. It is shown…
We conjecture that bounded generalised polynomial functions cannot be generated by finite automata, except for the trivial case when they are ultimately periodic. Using methods from ergodic theory, we are able to partially resolve this…
In this work, we show that very natural, apparently simple problems in quantum measurement theory can be undecidable even if their classical analogues are decidable. Undecidability hence appears as a genuine quantum property here. Formally,…
Inspired by Gentzen's 1936 consistency proof, Goodstein found a close fit between descending sequences of ordinals epsilon_0 and sequences of integers, now known as Goodstein sequences. This article revisits Goodstein's 1944 paper. In light…
We conjecture that bounded generalised polynomial functions cannot be generated by finite automata, except for the trivial case when they are periodic away from a finite set. Using methods from ergodic theory, we are able to partially…
In arXiv:2508.14768, a variant of Goodstein's original process was recently introduced which, given a set $B\subseteq \mathbb{N}$ of bases, writes each $n\in\mathbb{N}$ in $B$-normal form, namely $n=b^ea+r$, where $b\in B$ the greatest base…
We show that any cadlag predictable process of finite variation is an a.s. limit of elementary predictable processes; it follows that predictable stopping times can be approximated `from below' by predictable stopping times which take…
Dickson's Lemma is a simple yet powerful tool widely used in termination proofs, especially when dealing with counters or related data structures. However, most computer scientists do not know how to derive complexity upper bounds from such…