Effectively extensible theories

1968 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian Boykan Pour-El

It is well known that Gödel's famous undecidability result may be viewed in the following strong form. Suppose we are given a specific presentation (i.e., a specific formulation in terms of axioms and rules of inference) of number theory. Then there exists an effective method which, when applied to a consistent axiomatizable extension of the theory yields an undecidable sentence of this extension. For distinct presentations the undecidable sentences obtained would be distinct. This is because the sentence constructed depends upon the notion of proof and hence ultimately upon the axioms and rules of inference—i.e., upon the specific presentation.

Author(s):  
Hugh L. Montgomery ◽  
Robert C. Vaughan
Keyword(s):  

Psychotherapy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul L. Hewitt ◽  
Samuel F. Mikail ◽  
Gordon L. Flett ◽  
Silvain S. Dang

Nature ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 580 (7802) ◽  
pp. 177-177
Author(s):  
Davide Castelvecchi

Author(s):  
Michael Harris

What do pure mathematicians do, and why do they do it? Looking beyond the conventional answers, this book offers an eclectic panorama of the lives and values and hopes and fears of mathematicians in the twenty-first century, assembling material from a startlingly diverse assortment of scholarly, journalistic, and pop culture sources. Drawing on the author's personal experiences as well as the thoughts and opinions of mathematicians from Archimedes and Omar Khayyám to such contemporary giants as Alexander Grothendieck and Robert Langlands, the book reveals the charisma and romance of mathematics as well as its darker side. In this portrait of mathematics as a community united around a set of common intellectual, ethical, and existential challenges, the book touches on a wide variety of questions, such as: Are mathematicians to blame for the 2008 financial crisis? How can we talk about the ideas we were born too soon to understand? And how should you react if you are asked to explain number theory at a dinner party? The book takes readers on an unapologetic guided tour of the mathematical life, from the philosophy and sociology of mathematics to its reflections in film and popular music, with detours through the mathematical and mystical traditions of Russia, India, medieval Islam, the Bronx, and beyond.


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