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Questions tagged [beginner]

Questions asked by a beginner user of proof assistants. We make an effort to be extra kind to such users.

57 votes
10 answers
9k views

Proof assistants for beginners - a comparison

What is a good starting point to learn about proof assistants? The answer will invariably depend on the area of interest: mathematics (and its areas, e.g. algebra,combinatorics, analysis, logic), CS - ...
Piotr Migdal's user avatar
20 votes
2 answers
735 views

What is the difference between refl and rfl in Lean 3?

I already know that refl is called a tactic, and that rfl is a term; can you explain with examples how they technically differ? ...
Jia Ming جيا ميڠ's user avatar
16 votes
1 answer
333 views

Formalizations of unsolved problems

Is there a library (for any proof assistant) which provides formalized definitions of unsolved problems? To clarify, I mean some collection that correctly defines unsolved problems in the language of ...
Reubend's user avatar
  • 519
14 votes
2 answers
331 views

Tools for checking the consistency of a type theory

My question is twofold: How do you define consistency (analogously to the concept in first-order logic) in the context of a type theory? Are there any tools that can check consistency? I have seen a ...
Greg Nisbet's user avatar
  • 3,073
14 votes
4 answers
266 views

What mathematical topics should I learn first before I start using proof assistants?

I'm a theoretical computer scientist and my research is focused mainly on structural and algorithmic graph theory. Recently I've been very interested in using proof assistants. As a "pet project&...
Rafael Coelho's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
180 views

Representing $\Bbb RP^2$ in Lean: building a type representing a particular set

I need to work with the set of all lines in the Cartesian plane. For my context, the natural way to think of this is that a line can be described by an equation $Ax + By + C = 0$, where $A$ and $B$ ...
John's user avatar
  • 367
9 votes
2 answers
449 views

Comparison between proof assistants for coinductive structures and proofs

I have a quite vague and naïve question: what are the differences between the different proof assistants regarding coinduction? My motivation is that I'd like to formalize some proofs, basically about ...
sparusaurata's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
642 views

How to define curry in Lean

I just started with Lean and with this nice SE. In the official web book/tutorial, when explaining definitions https://leanprover.github.io/theorem_proving_in_lean/index.html they ask to complete this ...
magma's user avatar
  • 193
9 votes
1 answer
181 views

Generating valid statements without a proof goal

Given some initial list of assumptions, I'd like to generate some true statements which follow from them without seeking a specific proof goal. I only need a small number of consequences from those ...
Reubend's user avatar
  • 519
8 votes
2 answers
835 views

Explanation of Coq math-comp repositories

How are the Coq math-comp account and repositories related? Details One of my side goals is to try to keep the tags on this site meaningful and useful. Today I ran into this question: How to prove ...
Guy Coder's user avatar
  • 2,846
8 votes
2 answers
533 views

Strong induction on ℕ with function α → ℕ

I have the following problem. I have a type $\alpha$, function $f : \alpha \to \mathbb{N}$ and predicate $P : \alpha \to \mathrm{Prop}$ and I want to prove that for all $a : \alpha, P a$. How could ...
burek's user avatar
  • 137
7 votes
3 answers
195 views

Why is $\Bbb Z = \Bbb N$ independent of Lean?

In this answer, it is noted For a silly example, in ZFC with the usual encoding, $\mathbb{Z} \neq \mathbb{N}$, but in Lean it is well-known that this is independent. Of course in both ZFC or Lean, ...
Mike Battaglia's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
920 views

What is the current state of proof assistants?

I am a high school senior going into college and I am applying to a scholarship in which I must write an essay about a potential future technology that would dramatically impact humans. I immediately ...
gmod's user avatar
  • 81
6 votes
1 answer
334 views

How to replace a function by its body

I have this function: Definition bexp x y := bexp_r x y [true]. And I have this goal: value (bexp [] y) = 0 ^ value y I want ...
user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
274 views

Problem proving a binary add function

I'm fairly new to the Coq language and I want to prove a function that does an binary add from numbers represented as a list (least significant bit upfront). I have created this badd function that ...
user avatar

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