Questions tagged [ordinal-analysis]
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Is there a computable ordinal encoding the proof strength of ZF? Is it knowable?
In comments on Quora (see, for example, here, here, here), Ron Maimon has repeatedly expressed the strong opinion that Hilbert's program was not killed by Gödel's results in the way typically ...
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Why do stacked quantifiers in PA correspond to ordinals up to $\epsilon_0$?
I am trying to understand why induction up to exactly $\epsilon_0$ is necessary to prove the cut-elimination theorem for first-order Peano Arithmetic; or, as I understand, equivalently, why the length ...
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Can the Burgess-Hazen analysis of Predicative Arithmetic be extended to Transfinite Types?
Around page 300 of his book "Mathematical Thought and its Objects", Charles Parsons discusses the work of Edward Nelson, who believes that mathematical induction is impredicative, because it can be ...
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Ordinal analysis and nonrecursive ordinals
Ordinal analysis is typically described as characterizing recursive ordinals in a theory $T$, but there is a sense in which it can characterize all $T$-ordinals, even those that are nonrecursive.
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Formalizations of The Matchstick Diagram Representation of Ordinals
The matchstick diagram is a really interesting and intuitive method of representing countable ordinals. However, because of how difficult it is to graphically represent ordinals with it, I started ...
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Proof theoretic ordinal
In Ordinal Analysis, Proof-theoretic Ordinal of a theory is thought as measure of a consistency strength and computational power.
Is it always the case? I. e. are there some general results about ...
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What is the proof-theoretic ordinal of PA + Con(PA), PA + Con(PA + Con(PA)) etc., and why?
I seem to remember having read that the proof-theoretic ordinal (sup of ordinals the theory can prove well-ordered) of $\mathsf{PA} + \mathsf{Con}(\mathsf{PA})$ is the same as that of $\mathsf{PA}$, ...
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Which ordinals can be proof-theoretic ordinals of a reasonable theory?
When talking to a friend recently he asked a question - are there any reasonable first-order theories which have proof theoretic ordinal equal to small or large Veblen ordinal? I have then extended ...
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ERA, PRA, PA, transfinite induction and equivalences
I'm quite sure I don't understand very well the links between proof theoretical ordinals of theories, the axioms of transfinite induction and the objects a theory can prove to exist.
For instance I'm ...
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Iterated Gentzen: or, a Sith objection to the proof of consistency of PA
$\DeclareMathOperator\PRA{PRA}\DeclareMathOperator\WF{WF}\DeclareMathOperator\Con{Con}\DeclareMathOperator\PA{PA}$Preamble: In the year … in a galaxy far far away, a nasty Sith named Darth Dubious (...
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Models of PRA/EFA with induction on $X$ but not $\omega^X$
As I currently understand it, induction on formulas containing $N+1$ first-order quantifiers is required to prove the well-ordering of the ordinal $(\omega \uparrow\uparrow N) < \epsilon_0$, that ...
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How closely do ordinal collapsing functions relate to Mostowski collapse?
Ordinal collapsing functions (such as Rathjen's $\psi_\pi$-functions, not the Levy collapse function) name large countable ordinals by mapping larger ordinals below some "large" ordinal, ...
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Going beyond the strength of Peano arithmetic "without sets"
First-order arithmetic is fairly weak, as measured for example by its consistency strength. When a stronger theory is desired, it is common to work with (fragments of) second-order arithmetic or set ...
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What is the role of the (formalized) omega rule in Ramified Analysis?
In the 1960's, Feferman and Schutte did groundbreaking proof-theoretic work to find out the strength of predicative systems of second-order arithmetic. They used the ramified theory of types, a ...
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