Related papers: A "Proof" of $P\neq NP$
A proof is one of the most important concepts of mathematics. However, there is a striking difference between how a proof is defined in theory and how it is used in practice. This puts the unique status of mathematics as exact science into…
In this note we give two proofs of Brooks' Theorem. The first is obtained by modifying an earlier proof and the second by combining two earlier proofs. We believe these proofs are easier to teach in Computer Science courses.
This note imparts heuristic arguments and theorectical evidences that contradict the abc conjecture over the rational numbers. In addition, the rudimentary datails for transforming this problem into the doimain of equidistribution theory…
The aim of this note is to prove a new discrepancy principle. The advantage of the new discrepancy principle compared with the known one consists of solving a minimization problem approximately, rather than exactly, and in the proof of a…
The aim of this short note is to give a simple proof of the non-rationality of the double cover of the three-dimensional projective space branched over a sufficiently general quartic.
We give a pen and paper and (comparatively) much simpler proof to verify of the Four Colour Theorem.
Mathematical proofs are often said to justify their conclusions by indicating the existence of a corresponding formal derivation. We argue that this widespread view relies on an under-examined notion of correspondence, or what it means for…
In this short note, we show that a result about words which coincide except in one position given as an exercise in Lothaire's Algebraic Combinatorics on Words is false. Moreover, we derive a modified statement which allows us to fix the…
This note formally defines the concept of coinductive validity of judgements, and contrasts it with inductive validity. For both notions it shows how a judgement is valid iff it has a formal proof. Finally, it defines and illustrates the…
Over the course of the last 50 years, many questions in the field of computability were left surprisingly unanswered. One example is the question of $P$ vs $NP\cap co-NP$. It could be phrased in loose terms as "If a person has the ability…
In this short paper we will show, via elementary arguments, the equivalence of the Twin Prime Conjecture to a problem which might be simpler to prove. Some conclusions are drawn, and it is shown that proving the Twin Prime Conjecture is…
It is well known that the resolution method (for propositional logic) is complete. However, completeness proofs found in the literature use an argument by contradiction showing that if a set of clauses is unsatisfiable, then it must have a…
What are the criteria that a measure of statistical evidence should satisfy? It is argued that a measure of evidence should be consistent. Consistency is an asymptotic criterion: the probability that if a measure of evidence in data…
In this note, we find a new way to prove several properties of 2-alternating capacities.
Proofs that a smooth morphism is flat available in the literature are long and difficult. We give a short proof of this fact.
We survey a collective achievement of a group of researchers: the PCP Theorems. They give new definitions of the class \np, and imply that computing approximate solutions to many \np-hard problems is itself \np-hard. Techniques developed to…
For events $A$ and $B$, we have \[ \mathbb{P}(A\mid B) > \mathbb{P}(A\mid \neg B) \qquad\Longleftrightarrow\qquad \mathbb{P}(B\mid A) > \mathbb{P}(B\mid \neg A) \] whenever all four quantities are defined. In other words, $B$ is evidence…
In this note we show that any proof of Wallis's formula or of the probability integral formula proves both assertions.
We present a propositional logic to reason about the uncertainty of events, where the uncertainty is modeled by a set of probability measures assigning an interval of probability to each event. We give a sound and complete axiomatization…
The aim of this short note is mainly pedagogical. It summarizes some knowledge about Boolean satisfiability (SAT) and the P=NP? problem in an elementary mathematical language. A convenient scheme to visualize and manipulate CNF formulae is…