Archive for the 'Logic' Category

The Big Surprise

Published
by
Steve Landsburg
on December 15, 2011
in Logic, Math and Puzzles
. 26 Comments

Back in the 1930’s, Kurt Godel proved two amazing facts about arithmetic: First, there are true statements in arithmetic that can’t be proven. Second, the consistency of arithmetic can’t be proven (at least not without recourse to logical methods that are on shakier ground than arithmetic itself).

Yesterday, I showed you Gregory Chaitin’s remarkably simple proof, of Godel’s first theorem. Today, I’ll show you Shira Kritchman and Ron Raz’s remarkably simple (and very recent) proof of Godel’s second theorem. If you work through this argument, you will, I think, have no trouble seeing how it was inspired by the paradox of the surprise examination.

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Berry Interesting

Published
by
Steve Landsburg
on December 14, 2011
in Logic, Math and Puzzles
. 36 Comments

confiture and ingredientsToday, I’m going to give you a short, simple proof of Godel’s First Incompleteness Theorem — the one that says there are true statements in arithmetic that can’t be proven. The proof is due to Gregory Chaitin, and it is far far simpler than Godel’s original proof. A bright high-schooler can grasp it instantly. And it’s wonderfully concrete. At the end, we’ll have an infinite list of statements, all easy to understand, and none of them provable — but almost all of them true (though we won’t know which ones).

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A Tale of Three Paradoxes

Published
by
Steve Landsburg
on December 13, 2011
in Logic, Math and Puzzles
. 19 Comments

This is a tale of three paradoxes and why they matter.

  • First, the ancient Liar Paradox: “This sentence is false”. If this sentence is true, it must be false. If it’s false, it must be true.
  • Next, the century-old Berry Paradox: Call a phrase “short” if it contains fewer than 13 words. The English language contains a finite number of words, and hence a finite number of short phrases. Hence there must be some natural numbers that can’t be described by any short phrase. Among these natural numbers, there must be a smallest. What is that natural number? Why, it’s the smallest natural number that can’t be described by any short phrase, of course. Except that this number is in fact described by the short phrase in boldface.
  • Finally, the more modern Paradox of the Surprise Examination (or the Unexpected Hanging), which we discussed yesterday.

The paradoxes are slippery, because they are stated in the imprecise language of English. But each of them has inspired a precise mathematical counterpart that is central to a brilliant argument in mathematical logic.

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The Surprise Exam, and More Surprises

Published
by
Steve Landsburg
on December 12, 2011
in Logic, Math and Puzzles
. 57 Comments

surpriseexamIf you’re the sort of person who reads this blog, you’re likely to be familiar with the paradox of the unexpected hanging, which has been floating around since 1943 but achieved popular notoriety around 1969 through the writing of Martin Gardner. But you’re less likely to be aware that the unexpected hanging plays a central role in a wonderful new piece of serious mathematics related to algorithmic complexity, Godel’s theorems, and the gap between truth and provability.

The unexpected hanging might as well be a surprise examination, and that’s the form in which I present this paradox to my students every year: In a class that meets every weekday morning, the professor announces that there will be an exam one day next week, but that students won’t know exactly which day until the exams are handed out.

The students, of course, immediately start trying to guess the day of the exam. One student (call him Bob) observes that the quiz can’t be on Friday — because if it is, the students will know that by Thursday afternoon. After all, if Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings have all passed by, only Friday remains. A Friday exam can’t be a surprise exam.

A more thoughtful student (call her Carol) observes that this means the quiz must be on one of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday — and that if it’s on Thursday, they’ll know that by Wednesday night. After all, Friday’s ruled out, so if Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday have passed by, then only Thursday remains. That rules out a surprise exam on Thursday.

Another student (call him Ted) observes that thanks to Bob and Carol, we know the exam must be on one of the first three days of the week — which means that if it’s not on Monday or Tuesday, it must be on Wednesday. Therefore if it’s on Wednesday, they’ll know this by Tuesday night. Scratch Wednesday from the list of possibilities.

Now Ted’s girlfriend Alice points out that the exam can’t be on Tuesday either. Whereupon Bob concludes that the exam must be on Monday. But wait a minute! Carol points out that if they know the exam will be on Monday, it can’t be a surprise. Therefore no surprise exam is possible.

The students, relieved, decide not to study. But they’re awfully surprised when they show up in class the following Tuesday and the professor hands out an exam.

Continue reading ‘The Surprise Exam, and More Surprises’

Big News

Published
by
Steve Landsburg
on October 4, 2011
in Logic, Math, Progress and Truthseeking
. 51 Comments

Last week, the highly distinguished Princeton Professor Ed Nelson announced a proof that the Peano axioms for arithmetic are inconsistent — and hence so is arithmetic itself. If true, this would be much bigger news than faster-than-light neutrinos. It would be bigger news than a discovery that the South had won the American Civil War. It would be far, far bigger news than a discovery that all life on Earth was intelligently designed.

There are, after all, multiple proofs that Peano Arithmetic (that is, the fragment of arithmetic described by the Peano axioms) is consistent. Among those, the simplest and most convincing (to the overwhelming majority of mathematicians) is this: The axioms of Peano Arithmetic, and therefore the theorems of Peano Arithmetic, are all true statements about the natural numbers — and a set of true statements cannot contradict itself.

Ed Nelson rejects that argument because (exempting himself from that overwhelming majority) he doesn’t believe in the set of natural numbers — or perhaps even in individual numbers when those numbers are very large. (How do you know that 810000 exists? Have you ever counted to it?)

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Friday Humor

Published
by
Steve Landsburg
on August 5, 2011
in Humor and Logic
. 15 Comments

Three logicians walk into a bar.

The bartender says: “Would any of you guys like a drink?”

The first logician says: “I don’t know.”

The second logician says: “I don’t know.”

The third logician says: “No.”

Hat tip to Adam Merberg, who isn’t sure of the source.

Click here to comment or read others’ comments.

Inconsistency

Published
by
Steve Landsburg
on June 8, 2011
in Logic and Math
. 75 Comments

voevodsky-80thVladimir Voevodsky, one of the world’s best and most influential mathematicians, has stirred up a bit of a hornet’s nest with a video lecture suggesting the possibility that the Peano Axioms — the standard axioms for arithmetic — might be inconsistent.

Since the Peano Axioms are known to be consistent, it’s tempting to dismiss the whole lecture as either a prank or a shocking display of ignorance. The latter temptation is buttressed somewhat by Voevodsky’s bold misstatement of Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem, which plays a central role in the lecture. On the other hand, Voevodsky is smarter than almost anyone else on earth, which earns him the benefit of the doubt — maybe what he’s saying is subtler than it seems. On the other hand, some of those in the “shocking display of ignorance” camp are among the few people in the world who might be as smart as Voevodsky.

To believe that the Peano Axioms are inconsistent, Voevodsky must reject all of the known proofs that they are consistent. In particular, he must reject the simplest and most convincing of all those proofs, which goes like this:

  1. The Peano Axioms, and therefore all of their logical consequences, are true statements about the natural numbers,
  2. A collection of true statements cannot contradict itself.
  3. QED.

Continue reading ‘Inconsistency’

Lord Russell’s Nightmare

Published
by
Steve Landsburg
on December 20, 2010
in Anniversaries, Heroes, Logic, Math and Philosophy
. 31 Comments

bertieBertrand Russell, that most rational of men, was nonetheless plagued by intermittent depression and the occasional nightmare. Including this one, as reported by Russell’s confidante, the mathematician G.H. Hardy:

[Russell] was in the top floor of the University Library, about A.D. 2100. A library assistant was going round the shelves carrying an enormous bucket, taking down books, glancing at them, restoring them to the shelves or dumping them into the bucket. At last he came to three large volumes which Russell could recognize as the last surviving copy of Principia Mathematica. He took down one of the volumes, turned over a few pages, seemed puzzled for a moment by the curious symbolism, closed the volume, balanced it in his hand and hesitated….

Principia Mathematica, to which Russell had devoted ten years of his life, was his (and co-author Alfred North Whitehead’s) audacious and ultimately futile attempt to reduce all of mathematics to pure logic. It is a failure that enabled some of the great successes of 20th century mathematics. And — the first volume having been published in December, 1910 — this is its 100th birthday.

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Eighty Years of Incompleteness

Published
by
Steve Landsburg
on October 25, 2010
in Anniversaries, Logic and Math
. 7 Comments

godelThis weekend marked the 80th anniversary of the most significant event in the history of logic since the days of Aristotle. On October 23, 1930, the 24-year-old Kurt Godel presented his incompleteness theorems to the Vienna Academy of Sciences.

The first incompleteness theorem says this: No matter what axioms you start with, there will always be statements in arithmetic that you can neither prove nor disprove. (I am glossing over some technicalities here, but in this context they are not important.) Some of those statements take the form “Such-and-such an equation has (or does not have) any solutions”. You tell me your axioms, and I’ll produce an equation that you can neither prove solvable nor prove insolvable.

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Basic Arithmetic, Part III: The Map is Not the Territory

Published
by
Steve Landsburg
on August 19, 2010
in Logic and Math
. 35 Comments

Today let’s talk about consistency.

Suppose I show you a map of Nebraska, with as-the-crow-flies distances marked between the major cities. Omaha to Lincoln, 100 miles. Lincoln to Grand Island, 100 miles. Omaha to Grand Island, 400 miles.

You are entitled to say “Hey, wait a minute! This map is inconsistent. The numbers don’t add up. If it’s 400 miles straight from Omaha to Grand Island, then there can’t be a 200 mile route that goes through Lincoln!”

So a map can be inconsistent. (It can also be consistent but wrong.) Nebraska itself, however, can no more be inconsistent than the color red can be made of terrycloth. (Red things can be made of terrycloth, but the color red certainly can’t.)

With that in mind, suppose I give you a theory of the natural numbers — that is, a list of axioms about them. You might examine my axioms and say “Hey! These axioms are inconsistent. I can use them to prove that 0 equals 1 and I can also use them to prove that 0 does not equal 1!” And, depending on the theory I gave you, you might be right. So a theory can be inconsistent. But the intended model of that theory — the natural numbers themselves — can no more be inconsistent than Nebraska can. Inconsistency in this context applies to theories, like the Peano axioms for arithmetic, not to structures, like the natural numbers themselves.

Continue reading ‘Basic Arithmetic, Part III: The Map is Not the Territory’

Basic Arithmetic, Part II

Published
by
Steve Landsburg
on August 18, 2010
in Logic and Math
. 39 Comments

Today’s mini-lesson in the foundations of mathematics is about the key distinction between theories and models.

The first thing to keep in mind is that mathematics is not economics, and therefore the vocabulary is not the same. In economics, a “model” is some sort of an approximation to reality. In mathematics, the word model refers to the reality itself, whereas a theory is a sort of approximation to that reality.

A theory is a list of axioms. (I am slightly oversimplifying, but not in any way that will be important here.) Let’s take an example. I have a theory with two axioms. The first axiom is “Socrates is a man” and the second is “All men are mortal”. From these axioms I can deduce some theorems, like “Socrates is mortal”.

That’s the theory. My intended model for this theory is the real world, where “man” means man, “Socrates” means that ancient Greek guy named Socrates, and “mortal” means “bound to die”.

But this theory also has models I never intended. Another model is the universe of Disney cartoons, where we interpret “man” to mean “mouse”, we interpret “Socrates” to mean “Mickey” and we interpret “mortal” to mean “large-eared”. Under that interpretation, my axioms are still true — all mice are large-eared, and Mickey is a mouse — so my theorem “Socrates is mortal” (which now means “Mickey is large-eared”) is also true.

Continue reading ‘Basic Arithmetic, Part II’

Godel, Fermat, Hercules

Published
by
Steve Landsburg
on July 28, 2010
in Logic and Math
. 40 Comments

HerculesAndHydraYesterday I answered one of Coupon Clipper’s questions about Godel’s Theorem. Today I’ll tackle the other: Does Godel’s Theorem matter on a day-to-day basis to practicing mathematicians?

And the answer is: Of course not. Mathematicians care about what’s true, not about what’s provable from some arbitrary set of axioms. (Of course this is an overgeneralization; some mathematicians have built distinguished careers on worrying about what’s provable from various sets of axioms. But they are a small minority.) Godel’s Theorem says that not all true things are provable. But for the most part, we’re happy just to know they’re true.

The flashiest example I can give you—and one I’ve used on this blog before—is Fermat’s Last Theorem, which says that no equation of the form xn + yn = zn has any solutions, as long as n is at least 3 and x, y and z are non-zero. Proving this was the was most famous unsolved problem in mathematics for 350 years until it was solved (to much public fanfare) by Frey, Serre, Ribet and Wiles in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

We know from that work that Fermat’s Last Theorem is true. However, we still don’t know whether Fermat’s Last Theorem follows from the standard axioms for arithmetic. And—this is the point—very few mathematicians care very much, at least by comparison to how much they care about the theorem itself. (Here is one of my favorite papers on the subject. Tellingly, the author is a philosopher.)

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First Things and Second Things

Published
by
Steve Landsburg
on July 27, 2010
in Logic and Math
. 18 Comments

The occasional commenter who goes by the name Coupon Clipper has emailed me some interesting questions about Godel’s Theorem. I think I’ll answer them here.

The first question is about first-order versus second-order logic, so let me explain the distinction. When we reason formally about arithmetic, we need to clearly specify the ground rules. This means, among other things, specifying the language and grammar we’re allowed to use. A very simple language might allow us to say things like “2 + 3 = 5″ or “8 is an even number”. With a language like that, you could talk about a lot of sixth grade arithmetic, but you wouldn’t be able to say anything very interesting beyond that. To talk about the questions mathematicians care about, you need a language that contains words like “every”, as in Every number can be factored into primes or Every number can be written as a sum of four squares or Every choice of positiive numbers x, y, and z will yield a non-solution to the equation x3+y3=z3 . That language is called first-order logic.

With first order logic we can specify a set of axioms, and then follow a prescribed set of rules to deduce consequences. For example, if you’ve already established that every number is a sum of four squares, then you’re allowed to conclude that 1,245,783 is a sum of four squares. (The general rule is that if you’ve proved that every number has some particular property, then you’re allowed to conclude that any particular number has that property.)

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Just the Facts

Published
by
Steve Landsburg
on April 28, 2010
in Logic, Math and Ontology
. 64 Comments

jackwebbDuring our brief intermission last week, commenters chose to revisit the question of whether arithmetic is invented or discovered—a topic we’d discussed here and here. This reminded me that I’ve been meaning to highlight an elementary error that comes up a lot in this kind of discussion.

It is frequently asserted that the facts of arithmetic are either “tautologous” or “true by definition” or “logical consequences of the axioms”. Those are three different assertions, and all of them are false. (This is not a controversial statement.)

The arguments made to support these assertions are not subtly flawed; they are overtly ludicrous. Almost always, they consist of “proof by example”, as in “1+1=2 is true by definition; therefore all the facts of arithmetic are true by definition”. Of course one expects to stumble across this sort of “reasoning” on the Internet, but it’s always jarring to see it coming from people who profess an interest in mathematical logic. (I will refrain from naming the worst offenders.)

So let’s consider a few facts of arithmetic:

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The Self-Referential Test

Published
by
Steve Landsburg
on December 22, 2009
in Logic and Puzzles
. 7 Comments

This quiz amused the hell out of me. I hope it does the same for you.

Edited to add: In comments, Mike H points me (and you) to this even better quiz, which seems to have been the model for the one I linked to. Enjoy your day.

Non-Simple Arithmetic

Published
by
Steve Landsburg
on December 17, 2009
in Logic, Math, Ontology and Philosophy
. 86 Comments

complexThe Intelligent Design folk tell you that complexity requires a designer.

The Richard Dawkins crowd tell you that complexity must evolve from simplicity.

I claim they’re both wrong, because the natural numbers, together with the operations of arithmetic, are fantastically complex, but were neither created nor evolved.

I’ve made this argument multiple times, in The Big Questions, on this blog, and elsewhere. Today, I aim to explain a little more deeply why I say that the natural numbers are fantastically complex.

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Trading Up

Published
by
Steve Landsburg
on November 11, 2009
in Economics, Logic and Policy
. 43 Comments

A reader has just emailed me a link to a Washington Post story about North Carolina workers losing their jobs to foreign competition. Presumably he believes there’s a larger moral here, because his subject line is “Wrong again, Steve”. Here is a slightly edited version of my emailed response:

It would be dishonest for me or anyone else to defend free trade by pointing to its advantages while ignoring its disadvantages.

It is equally dishonest to oppose free trade by pointing to its disadvantages while ignoring its advantages.

What you need is a framework that accounts for all the advantages and disadvantages, together with enough of a logical structure to instill confidence that nothing imporant has been overlooked. Thats what economic theory supplies. You can find that theory in the economics textbooks. You can also find (I think) a pretty good summary of it in The Big Questions.

My correspondent wrote back with a pointer to a website with fifty years of what he calls “extrapolatable stats” that he thinks supply the necessary framework. This misses the point entirely. There is no way a hodgepodge of numbers can settle the question of whether something’s been left out. For that you need a theory.

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