1 research outputs found
Adding an Abstraction Barrier to ZF Set Theory
Much mathematical writing exists that is, explicitly or implicitly, based on
set theory, often Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory (ZF) or one of its variants. In
ZF, the domain of discourse contains only sets, and hence every mathematical
object must be a set. Consequently, in ZF, with the usual encoding of an
ordered pair , formulas like have truth values, and operations like have results that are sets. Such 'accidental theorems' do not match
how people think about the mathematics and also cause practical difficulties
when using set theory in machine-assisted theorem proving. In contrast, in a
number of proof assistants, mathematical objects and concepts can be built of
type-theoretic stuff so that many mathematical objects can be, in essence,
terms of an extended typed -calculus. However, dilemmas and
frustration arise when formalizing mathematics in type theory.
Motivated by problems of formalizing mathematics with (1) purely
set-theoretic and (2) type-theoretic approaches, we explore an option with much
of the flexibility of set theory and some of the useful features of type
theory. We present ZFP: a modification of ZF that has ordered pairs as
primitive, non-set objects. ZFP has a more natural and abstract axiomatic
definition of ordered pairs free of any notion of representation. This paper
presents axioms for ZFP, and a proof in ZF (machine-checked in Isabelle/ZF) of
the existence of a model for ZFP, which implies that ZFP is consistent if ZF
is. We discuss the approach used to add this abstraction barrier to ZF