782 research outputs found
Semantics and Proof Theory of the Epsilon Calculus
The epsilon operator is a term-forming operator which replaces quantifiers in
ordinary predicate logic. The application of this undervalued formalism has
been hampered by the absence of well-behaved proof systems on the one hand, and
accessible presentations of its theory on the other. One significant early
result for the original axiomatic proof system for the epsilon-calculus is the
first epsilon theorem, for which a proof is sketched. The system itself is
discussed, also relative to possible semantic interpretations. The problems
facing the development of proof-theoretically well-behaved systems are
outlined.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1411.362
Two types of indefinites: Hilbert & Russell
This paper compares Hilbert’s -terms and Russell’s approach to indefinite descriptions, Russell’s indefinites for short. Despite the fact that both accounts are usually taken to express indefinite descriptions, there is a number of dissimilarities. Specifically, it can be shown that Russell indefinites - expressed in terms of a logical ρ-operator - are not directly representable in terms of their corresponding -terms. Nevertheless, there are two possible translations of Russell indefinites into epsilon logic. The first one is given in a language with classical -terms. The second translation is based on a refined account of epsilon terms, namely indexed -terms. In what follows we briefly outline these approaches both syntactically and semantically and discuss their respective connections; in particular, we establish two equivalence results between the (indexed) epsilon calculus and the proposed ρ-term approach to Russell’s indefinites
Two types of indefinites: Hilbert & Russell
This paper compares Hilbert’s -terms and Russell’s approach to indefinite descriptions, Russell’s indefinites for short. Despite the fact that both accounts are usually taken to express indefinite descriptions, there is a number of dissimilarities. Specifically, it can be shown that Russell indefinites - expressed in terms of a logical ρ-operator - are not directly representable in terms of their corresponding -terms. Nevertheless, there are two possible translations of Russell indefinites into epsilon logic. The first one is given in a language with classical -terms. The second translation is based on a refined account of epsilon terms, namely indexed -terms. In what follows we briefly outline these approaches both syntactically and semantically and discuss their respective connections; in particular, we establish two equivalence results between the (indexed) epsilon calculus and the proposed ρ-term approach to Russell’s indefinites
q-Deformed Superalgebras
The article deals with q-analogs of the three- and four-dimensional Euclidean
superalgebra and the Poincare superalgebra.Comment: 38 pages, LateX, no figures, corrected typo
Representations of stream processors using nested fixed points
We define representations of continuous functions on infinite streams of discrete values, both in the case of discrete-valued functions, and in the case of stream-valued functions. We define also an operation on the representations of two continuous functions between streams that yields a representation of their composite. In the case of discrete-valued functions, the representatives are well-founded (finite-path) trees of a certain kind. The underlying idea can be traced back to Brouwer's justification of bar-induction, or to Kreisel and Troelstra's elimination of choice-sequences. In the case of stream-valued functions, the representatives are non-wellfounded trees pieced together in a coinductive fashion from well-founded trees. The definition requires an alternating fixpoint construction of some ubiquity
Ten Misconceptions from the History of Analysis and Their Debunking
The widespread idea that infinitesimals were "eliminated" by the "great
triumvirate" of Cantor, Dedekind, and Weierstrass is refuted by an
uninterrupted chain of work on infinitesimal-enriched number systems. The
elimination claim is an oversimplification created by triumvirate followers,
who tend to view the history of analysis as a pre-ordained march toward the
radiant future of Weierstrassian epsilontics. In the present text, we document
distortions of the history of analysis stemming from the triumvirate ideology
of ontological minimalism, which identified the continuum with a single number
system. Such anachronistic distortions characterize the received interpretation
of Stevin, Leibniz, d'Alembert, Cauchy, and others.Comment: 46 pages, 4 figures; Foundations of Science (2012). arXiv admin note:
text overlap with arXiv:1108.2885 and arXiv:1110.545
Geometry of Morphogenesis
We introduce a formalism for the geometry of eukaryotic cells and
organisms.Cells are taken to be star-convex with good biological reason. This
allows for a convenient description of their extent in space as well as all
manner of cell surface gradients. We assume that a spectrum of such cell
surface markers determines an epigenetic code for organism shape. The union of
cells in space at a moment in time is by definition the organism taken as a
metric subspace of Euclidean space, which can be further equipped with an
arbitrary measure. Each cell determines a point in space thus assigning a
finite configuration of distinct points in space to an organism, and a bundle
over this configuration space is introduced with fiber a Hilbert space
recording specific epigenetic data. On this bundle, a Lagrangian formulation of
morphogenetic dynamics is proposed based on Gromov-Hausdorff distance which at
once describes both embryo development and regenerative growth
A local graph-rewriting system for deciding equality in sum-product theories
In this paper we give a graph-based decision procedure for a calculus with sum and product types. Al- though our motivation comes from the Bird-Meertens approach to reasoning algebraically about functional programs, the language used here can be seen as the internal language of a category with binary products and coproducts. As such, the decision procedure presented has independent interest. A standard approach based on term rewriting would work modulo a set of equations; the present work proposes a simpler approach, based on graph-rewriting. We show in turn how the system covers reflection equational laws, fusion laws, and cancel lation laws
Principles and Implementation of Deductive Parsing
We present a system for generating parsers based directly on the metaphor of
parsing as deduction. Parsing algorithms can be represented directly as
deduction systems, and a single deduction engine can interpret such deduction
systems so as to implement the corresponding parser. The method generalizes
easily to parsers for augmented phrase structure formalisms, such as
definite-clause grammars and other logic grammar formalisms, and has been used
for rapid prototyping of parsing algorithms for a variety of formalisms
including variants of tree-adjoining grammars, categorial grammars, and
lexicalized context-free grammars.Comment: 69 pages, includes full Prolog cod
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