A note on nominalistic syntax

1950 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 226-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Martin

In this note two independent comments are offered concerning nominalistic syntax.If one has a nominalistic theory of natural numbers (or positive integers) at one's disposal, one can of course readily formulate a nominalistic syntax by the familiar method of arithmetization. A nominalistic theory of natural numbers is formulated in a previous paper by the author, and thus a basis for a nominalistic syntax is already provided. (The objection that this theory is infinitistic would appear without force, because it provides the only known nominalistic basis for the theory of general recursive functions. On a finitistic basis one merely throws out this vital domain of mathematical theory.)The second comment is concerned with nominalistic syntax as formulated by Goodman and Quine. The nominalistic construction of natural numbers alluded to above owes much of its power to a primitive device of ancestral quantification. This device is somewhat more powerful than the notions Goodman and Quine allow themselves. Now nominalistic syntax in their somewhat narrower sense can be formulated by utilizing a relation akin to the relation L of the theory of ordered individuals developed elsewhere by the author. ‘L’ here is to designate the relation between inscriptions of being wholly to the left of.The Goodman-Quine primitive ‘C’, designating a relation of concatenation, and their primitive ‘Part’ with its field confined to inscriptions, can be defined in terms of ‘L’. Thus:.(This definition is essentially that of ‘P’ in O.I.)

2013 ◽  
Vol 94 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTIAN ELSHOLTZ ◽  
TERENCE TAO

AbstractFor any positive integer $n$, let $f(n)$ denote the number of solutions to the Diophantine equation $$\begin{eqnarray*}\frac{4}{n} = \frac{1}{x} + \frac{1}{y} + \frac{1}{z}\end{eqnarray*}$$ with $x, y, z$ positive integers. The Erdős–Straus conjecture asserts that $f(n)\gt 0$ for every $n\geq 2$. In this paper we obtain a number of upper and lower bounds for $f(n)$ or $f(p)$ for typical values of natural numbers $n$ and primes $p$. For instance, we establish that $$\begin{eqnarray*}N\hspace{0.167em} {\mathop{\log }\nolimits }^{2} N\ll \displaystyle \sum _{p\leq N}f(p)\ll N\hspace{0.167em} {\mathop{\log }\nolimits }^{2} N\log \log N.\end{eqnarray*}$$ These upper and lower bounds show that a typical prime has a small number of solutions to the Erdős–Straus Diophantine equation; small, when compared with other additive problems, like Waring’s problem.


1966 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.M. K. Davison

Let A be the set of all functions from N, the natural numbers, to C the field of complex numbers. The Dirichlet product of elements f, g of A is given bywhere the summation condition means sum over all positive integers d which divide n.


1959 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian G. Connell

Two sequences of natural numbers are said to be complementary if they contain all the positive integers without repetition or omission. S. Beatty [l] observed that the sequences(1)(2)(where square brackets denote the integral part function) are complementary if and only if α > 0 and α is irrational. We call the pair (1),(2) Beatty sequences of argument α.


1993 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 1195-1200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Palmgren

In the paper Mathematics of infinity, Martin-Löf extends his intuitionistic type theory with fixed “choice sequences”. The simplest, and most important instance, is given by adding the axiomsto the type of natural numbers. Martin-Löf's type theory can be regarded as an extension of Heyting arithmetic (HA). In this note we state and prove Martin-Löf's main result for this choice sequence, in the simpler setting of HA and other arithmetical theories based on intuitionistic logic (Theorem A). We also record some remarkable properties of the resulting systems; in general, these lack the disjunction property and may or may not have the explicit definability property. Moreover, they represent all recursive functions by terms.


1953 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert McNaughton

These systems are roughly natural number theory in, respectively, nth order function calculus, for all positive integers n. Each of these systems is expressed in the notation of the theory of types, having variables with type subscripts from 1 to n. Variables of type 1 stand for natural numbers, variables of type 2 stand for classes of natural numbers, etc. Primitive atomic wff's (well-formed formulas) of Tn are those of number theory in variables of type 1, and of the following kind for n > 1: xi ϵ yi+1. Other wff's are formed by truth functions and quantifiers in the usual manner. Quantification theory holds for all the variables of Tn. Tn has the axioms Z1 to Z9, which are, respectively, the nine axioms and axiom schemata for the system Z (natural number theory) on p. 371 of [1]. These axioms and axiom schemata contain only variables of type 1, except for the schemata Z2 and Z9, which are as follows:where ‘F(x1)’ can be any wff of Tn. Identity is primitive for variables of type 1; for variables of other types it is defined as follows:


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARCO PANZA ◽  
ANDREA SERENI

AbstractRecent discussions on Fregean and neo-Fregean foundations for arithmetic and real analysis pay much attention to what is called either ‘Application Constraint’ ($AC$) or ‘Frege Constraint’ ($FC$), the requirement that a mathematical theory be so outlined that it immediately allows explaining for its applicability. We distinguish between two constraints, which we, respectively, denote by the latter of these two names, by showing how$AC$generalizes Frege’s views while$FC$comes closer to his original conceptions. Different authors diverge on the interpretation of$FC$and on whether it applies to definitions of both natural and real numbers. Our aim is to trace the origins of$FC$and to explore how different understandings of it can be faithful to Frege’s views about such definitions and to his foundational program. After rehearsing the essential elements of the relevant debate (§1), we appropriately distinguish$AC$from$FC$(§2). We discuss six rationales which may motivate the adoption of different instances of$AC$and$FC$(§3). We turn to the possible interpretations of$FC$(§4), and advance a Semantic$FC$(§4.1), arguing that while it suits Frege’s definition of natural numbers (4.1.1), it cannot reasonably be imposed on definitions of real numbers (§4.1.2), for reasons only partly similar to those offered by Crispin Wright (§4.1.3). We then rehearse a recent exchange between Bob Hale and Vadim Batitzky to shed light on Frege’s conception of real numbers and magnitudes (§4.2). We argue that an Architectonic version of$FC$is indeed faithful to Frege’s definition of real numbers, and compatible with his views on natural ones. Finally, we consider how attributing different instances of$FC$to Frege and appreciating the role of the Architectonic$FC$can provide a more perspicuous understanding of his foundational program, by questioning common pictures of his logicism (§5).


1959 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-148
Author(s):  
Alan Rose

It has been shown that every general recursive function is definable by application of the five schemata for primitive recursive functions together with the schemasubject to the condition that, for each n–tuple of natural numbers x1,…, xn there exists a natural number xn+1 such that


1961 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Rankin

For any positive integers n and v letwhere d runs through all the positive divisors of n. For each positive integer k and real x > 1, denote by N(v, k; x) the number of positive integers n ≦ x for which σv(n) is not divisible by k. Then Watson [6] has shown that, when v is odd,as x → ∞; it is assumed here and throughout that v and k are fixed and independent of x. It follows, in particular, that σ (n) is almost always divisible by k. A brief account of the ideas used by Watson will be found in § 10.6 of Hardy's book on Ramanujan [2].


1991 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom C. Brown ◽  
Voijtech Rödl

Our main result is that if G(x1, …, xn) = 0 is a system of homogeneous equations such that for every partition of the positive integers into finitely many classes there are distinct y1,…, yn in one class such that G(y1, …, yn) = 0, then, for every partition of the positive integers into finitely many classes there are distinct Z1, …, Zn in one class such thatIn particular, we show that if the positive integers are split into r classes, then for every n ≥ 2 there are distinct positive integers x1, x1, …, xn in one class such thatWe also show that if [1, n6 − (n2 − n)2] is partitioned into two classes, then some class contains x0, x1, …, xn such that(Here, x0, x2, …, xn are not necessarily distinct.)


1965 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaisi Takeuti

In this paper, by a function of ordinals we understand a function which is defined for all ordinals and each of whose value is an ordinal. In [7] (also cf. [8] or [9]) we defined recursive functions and predicates of ordinals, following Kleene's definition on natural numbers. A predicate will be called arithmetical, if it is obtained from a recursive predicate by prefixing a sequence of alternating quantifiers. A function will be called arithmetical, if its representing predicate is arithmetical.The cardinals are identified with those ordinals a which have larger power than all smaller ordinals than a. For any given ordinal a, we denote by the cardinal of a and by 2a the cardinal which is of the same power as the power set of a. Let χ be the function such that χ(a) is the least cardinal which is greater than a.Now there are functions of ordinals such that they are easily defined in set theory, but it seems impossible to define them as arithmetical ones; χ is such a function. If we define χ in making use of only the language on ordinals, it seems necessary to use the notion of all the functions from ordinals, e.g., as in [6].


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