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Questions tagged [peano-axioms]

For questions on Peano axioms, a set of axioms for the natural numbers.

43 votes
2 answers
9k views

How is exponentiation defined in Peano arithmetic?

How would exponentiation be defined in Peano arithmetic? Unless $n$ is fixed natural number, $x^n$ seems to be hard to define. Edit 2: So, what would be the way to define $x^n+y^n = z^n$ using $\...
UQT's user avatar
  • 857
42 votes
2 answers
3k views

Difference between provability and truth of Goodstein's theorem

I have been thinking about the difference between provability and truth and think this example can illustrate what I have been wondering about: We know that Goodstein's theorem (G) is unprovable in ...
Sam Mayo's user avatar
  • 403
35 votes
5 answers
8k views

Why does induction have to be an axiom?

I noticed that there is an axiom that says that if $S(n)\implies S(n+1)$, and $S(1)$ is true, then $\forall n \in \Bbb N, S(n).$ My question is why is this an axiom? why can't we derive this from the ...
yes's user avatar
  • 941
32 votes
6 answers
4k views

A question on Terence Tao's representation of Peano Axioms

While reading Terence Tao's book on Analysis I had some questions regarding the implication of the Peano Axioms. After writing the following four axioms (which I will write without changing their ...
user avatar
30 votes
1 answer
2k views

Can Peano arithmetic prove the consistency of "baby arithmetic"?

I am reading Peter Smith's An Introduction to Gödel's Theorems. In chapter 10, he defines "baby arithmetic" $\mathsf{BA}$ to be the zeroth-order version of Peano arithmetic ($\mathsf{PA}$) ...
WillG's user avatar
  • 6,672
29 votes
3 answers
8k views

What is an example of a non standard model of Peano Arithmetic?

According to here, there is the "standard" model of Peano Arithmetic. This is defined as $0,1,2,...$ in the usual sense. What would be an example of a nonstandard model of Peano Arithmetic? What would ...
user avatar
28 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is there a natural model of Peano Arithmetic where Goodstein's theorem fails?

Goodstein's Theorem is the statement that every Goodstein sequence eventually hits 0. It is known to be independent of Peano Arithemtic (PA), and in fact, was the first such purely number theoretic ...
Jason DeVito - on hiatus's user avatar
26 votes
4 answers
10k views

Why is Peano arithmetic undecidable?

I read that Presburger arithmetic is decidable while Peano arithmetic is undecidable. Peano arithmetic extends Presburger arithmetic just with the addition of the multiplication operator. Can someone ...
chinu's user avatar
  • 685
25 votes
2 answers
3k views

How does Peano Postulates construct Natural numbers only?

I am beginning real analysis and got stuck on the first page (Peano Postulates). It reads as follows, at least in my textbook. Axiom 1.2.1 (Peano Postulates). There exists a set $\Bbb N$ with an ...
Solomon Tessema's user avatar
23 votes
4 answers
2k views

Statement provable for all parameters, but unprovable when quantified

I've been reading a book on Gödel's incompleteness theorems and it makes the following claim regarding provability of statements in Peano arithmetic (paraphrased): There exists a formula $A(x)$ ...
Matěj G.'s user avatar
  • 345
22 votes
6 answers
3k views

Do we have to prove how parentheses work in the Peano axioms?

One thing that has bothered me so far while learning about the Peano axioms is that the use of parentheses just comes out of nowhere and we automatically assume they are true in how they work. For ...
user537069's user avatar
22 votes
1 answer
486 views

Is there a 'nice' axiomatization in the language of arithmetic of the statements ZF proves about the natural numbers?

It's well known that ZF (equivalently ZFC by this question) proves more about the natural numbers than PA. The set of such statements is recursively enumerable so it is recursively axiomatizable. Is ...
James E Hanson's user avatar
21 votes
5 answers
4k views

Purpose of the Peano Axioms

Wikipedia says the Peano Axioms are a set of axioms for the natural numbers. Is the purpose of the axioms to create a base on which we can build the rest of mathematicas formally? If this is true ...
integrator's user avatar
20 votes
1 answer
485 views

A model-theoretic question re: Nelson and exponentiation

EDIT: I am not asking about the validity of exponentiation, or PA. My question is about a specific technical claim which Nelson makes in this article (pp. 9-12): that a certain theory does not prove ...
Noah Schweber's user avatar
18 votes
6 answers
5k views

Why do we take the axiom of induction for natural numbers (Peano arithmetic)?

More precisely, when we define the set of natural numbers $\mathbb{N}$ using the Peano axioms, we assume the following: $0\in\mathbb{N}$ $\forall n\in\mathbb{N} (S(n)\in\mathbb{N})$ $\forall n\in\...
russell11's user avatar
  • 245

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