Subsystems of Second Order Arithmetic (Perspectives in Logic) - Hardcover

Simpson, Stephen G.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 052188439X ISBN 13: 9780521884396

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2009

Synopsis

Foundations of mathematics is the study of the most basic concepts and logical structure of mathematics, with an eye to the unity of human knowledge. Almost all of the problems studied in this book are motivated by an overriding foundational question: What are the appropriate axioms for mathematics? Through a series of case studies, these axioms are examined to prove particular theorems in core mathematical areas such as algebra, analysis, and topology, focusing on the language of second-order arithmetic, the weakest language rich enough to express and develop the bulk of mathematics. In many cases, if a mathematical theorem is proved from appropriately weak set existence axioms, then the axioms will be logically equivalent to the theorem. Furthermore, only a few specific set existence axioms arise repeatedly in this context, which in turn correspond to classical foundational programs. This is the theme of reverse mathematics, which dominates the first half of the book. The second part focuses on models of these and other subsystems of second-order arithmetic. Additional results are presented in an appendix.

About this title

Book Description

What are the appropriate axioms for mathematics? Through a series of case studies, this volumes examines these axioms to prove particular theorems in core mathematical areas such as algebra, analysis, and topology, focusing on the language of second-order arithmetic, the weakest language rich enough to express and develop the bulk of mathematics.

From the Back Cover

"From the point of view of the foundations of mathematics, this definitive work by Simpson is the most anxiously awaited monograph for over a decade. The "subsystems of second order arithmetic" provide the basic formal systems normally used in our current understanding of the logical structure of classical mathematics. Simpson provides an encyclopedic treatment of these systems with an emphasis on *Hilbert's program* (where infinitary mathematics is to be secured or reinterpreted by finitary mathematics), and the emerging *reverse mathematics* (where axioms necessary for providing theorems are determined by deriving axioms from theorems). The classical mathematical topics treated in these axiomatic terms are very diverse, and include standard topics in complete separable metric spaces and Banach spaces, countable groups, rings, fields, and vector spaces, ordinary differential equations, fixed points, infinite games, Ramsey theory, and many others. The material, with its many open problems and detailed references to the literature, is particularly valuable for proof theorists and recursion theorists. The book is both suitable for the beginning graduate student in mathematical logic, and encyclopedic for the expert." Harvey Friedman, Ohio State University

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 052188439X
• ISBN 13: 9780521884396
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 464