Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In mathematics, a constructive proof is a method of proof that demonstrates the existence of a mathematical object by creating or providing a method for creating the object. This is in contrast to a non-constructive proof (also known as an existence proof or pure existence theorem ), which proves the existence of a particular kind of object ...
Informally, this means that if there is a constructive proof that an object exists, that constructive proof may be used as an algorithm for generating an example of that object, a principle known as the Curry–Howard correspondence between proofs and algorithms.
In classical real analysis, one way to define a real number is as an equivalence class of Cauchy sequences of rational numbers.. In constructive mathematics, one way to construct a real number is as a function ƒ that takes a positive integer and outputs a rational ƒ(n), together with a function g that takes a positive integer n and outputs a positive integer g(n) such that
proof theory and constructive mathematics (considered as parts of a single area). Additionally, sometimes the field of computational complexity theory is also included together with mathematical logic. [2] [3] Each area has a distinct focus, although many techniques and results are shared among multiple areas. The borderlines amongst these ...
From the other direction, there has been considerable clarification of what constructive mathematics is—without the emergence of a 'master theory'. For example, according to Errett Bishop's definitions, the continuity of a function such as sin(x) should be proved as a constructive bound on the modulus of continuity, meaning that the existential content of the assertion of continuity is a ...
In mathematical logic, realizability is a collection of methods in proof theory used to study constructive proofs and extract additional information from them. [1] Formulas from a formal theory are "realized" by objects, known as "realizers", in a way that knowledge of the realizer gives knowledge about the truth of the formula. There are many ...
The definition of a formal proof is intended to capture the concept of proofs as written in the practice of mathematics. The soundness of this definition amounts to the belief that a published proof can, in principle, be converted into a formal proof. However, outside the field of automated proof assistants, this is rarely done in practice.
A philosophy of mathematics that denies the reality of the mathematical infinite and the completeness of mathematical truth, requiring constructive proofs. intuitionistic logic A system of logic that reflects the principles of intuitionism, rejecting the law of excluded middle and requiring more constructive proofs of existence.