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The successor function is part of the formal language used to state the Peano axioms, which formalise the structure of the natural numbers.In this formalisation, the successor function is a primitive operation on the natural numbers, in terms of which the standard natural numbers and addition are defined. [1]
In mathematical logic, Gödel's β function is a function used to permit quantification over finite sequences of natural numbers in formal theories of arithmetic. The β function is used, in particular, in showing that the class of arithmetically definable functions is closed under primitive recursion, and therefore includes all primitive recursive functions.
In computer science, recursion is a method of solving a computational problem where the solution depends on solutions to smaller instances of the same problem. [1] [2] Recursion solves such recursive problems by using functions that call themselves from within their own code. The approach can be applied to many types of problems, and recursion ...
Many mathematical axioms are based upon recursive rules. For example, the formal definition of the natural numbers by the Peano axioms can be described as: "Zero is a natural number, and each natural number has a successor, which is also a natural number." [2] By this base case and recursive rule, one can generate the set of all natural numbers.
The entire set of natural numbers is computable. Each natural number (as defined in standard set theory) is computable; that is, the set of natural numbers less than a given natural number is computable. The subset of prime numbers is computable. A recursive language is a computable subset of a formal language.
This characterization states that a function is primitive recursive if and only if there is a natural number m such that the function can be computed by a Turing machine that always halts within A(m,n) or fewer steps, where n is the sum of the arguments of the primitive recursive function. [5]
The natural numbers 𝐍 are an NNO where z is a function from a singleton to 𝐍 whose image is zero, and s is the successor function. (We could actually allow z to pick out any element of 𝐍, and the resulting NNO would be isomorphic to this one.) One can prove that the diagram in the definition commutes using mathematical induction.
The primitive recursive functions are a subset of the total recursive functions, which are a subset of the partial recursive functions. For example, the Ackermann function can be proven to be total recursive, and to be non-primitive. Primitive or "basic" functions: Constant functions C k n: For each natural number n and every k