0

Can we express the following property of natural numbers as FOL. The property given below is only indicative, I am more interested in know how the concepts such as "infinitly many X exists for so and so" be expressed in FOL. Also these need to be expressed as uninterpreted functions.

"For Every natural number n, there are infinitly many other natural numbers such that the greatest common divisor of n and each of these other numbers is 1"

As I said if you cant express this sentence in FOL at least suggest links/material where I can get leads.

flag

1 Answer

2

If $f(n)$ is a predicate in the first order language of arithmetic, then "there are infinitely many $n$ such that $f(n)$ holds" can be expressed as $$\forall m\in\mathbb{N}\ \exists k\in\mathbb{N}:f(m+k+1).$$

link|flag
Or: For all m there is a k larger than m such that f(k). – Andres Caicedo Aug 12 2010 at 22:18
Okay. I was a bit confused as per who the "infinitely many.." is represented. – Akshar Prabhu Desai Aug 13 2010 at 5:58

Your Answer

Get an OpenID
or

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.