Related papers: Notes on proof by dichotomy
In logic there is a clear concept of what constitutes a proof and what not. A proof is essentially defined as a finite sequence of formulae which are either axioms or derived by proof rules from formulae earlier in the sequence.…
An efficient entailment proof system is essential to compositional verification using separation logic. Unfortunately, existing decision procedures are either inexpressive or inefficient. For example, Smallfoot is an efficient procedure but…
A typical kind of question in mathematical logic is that for the necessity of a certain axiom: Given a proof of some statement $\phi$ in some axiomatic system $T$, one looks for minimal subsystems of $T$ that allow deriving $\phi$. In…
We consider a family U of finite universes. The second order quantifier Q_R, means for each u in U quantifying over a set of n(R)-place relations isomorphic to a given relation. We define a natural partial order on such quantifiers called…
It is presented the simplest known disproof of the Borsuk conjecture stating that if a bounded subset of n-dimensional Euclidean space contains more than n points, then the subset can be partitioned into n+1 nonempty parts of smaller…
Suppose 2n voters vote sequentially for one of two candidates. For how many such sequences does one candidate have strictly more votes than the other at each stage of the voting? The answer is \binom{2n}{n} and, while easy enough to prove…
As statistical analyses become more central to science, industry and society, there is a growing need to ensure correctness of their results. Approximate correctness can be verified by replicating the entire analysis, but can we verify…
We obtain a criterion for an analytic subset of a Euclidean space to contain points of differentiability of a typical Lipschitz function, namely, that it cannot be covered by countably many sets, each of which is closed and purely…
This paper provides a complete suite of axioms for a version of set theory that I call Explication. Explication borrows from the two most prominent existing systems of set theory. Explication starts with class variables. After several…
The main aim of this paper is to promote a certain style of doing coinductive proofs, similar to inductive proofs as commonly done by mathematicians. For this purpose, we provide a reasonably direct justification for coinductive proofs…
For Hilbert, the consistency of a formal theory T is an infinite series of statements "D is free of contradictions" for each derivation D and a consistency proof is i) an operation that, given D, yields a proof that D is free of…
In proof theory the notion of canonical proof is rather basic, and it is usually taken for granted that a canonical proof of a sentence must be unique up to certain minor syntactical details (such as, e.g., change of bound variables). When…
Let $\{U(m)\}_{m\in \N}$ and $\{V(n)\}_{n\in \N}$ be linear recurrence sequences. It is a well-known Diophantine problem to determine the finiteness of the set of natural numbers $n$ such that the ratio $U(n)/V(n)$ is an integer. We study…
We prove Euler's theorem of number theory developing an argument based on quandles. A quandle is an algebraic structure whose axioms mimic the three Reidemeister moves of knot theory.
In this article we present a class of formulas Fn, n in Nat, that need at least 2^n assumptions to be proved in a normal proof in Natural Deduction for purely implicational minimal propositional logic. In purely implicational classical…
We give a short proof -- not relying on ideal classes or the geometry of numbers -- of a known criterion for quadratic orders to possess unique factorization.
The purpose of this paper is to give an easy to understand with step-by-step explanation to allow interested people to fully appreciate the power of natural deduction for first-order logic. Natural deduction as a proof system can be used to…
A decomposition of a natural number n is a sequence of consecutive natural numbers that sums to n. We construct a one-to-one correspondence between the odd factors of a natural number and its decompositions. We study the decompositions by…
A growing body of work studies how to answer a question or verify a claim by generating a natural language "proof": a chain of deductive inferences yielding the answer based on a set of premises. However, these methods can only make sound…
The Possible Winner problem asks, given an election where the voters' preferences over the candidates are specified only partially, whether a designated candidate can become a winner by suitably extending all the votes. Betzler and Dorn [1]…