FOM: reference of mathematical discourse

Randall Holmes holmes at catseye.idbsu.edu
Mon Mar 23 12:03:14 EST 1998


In response to Neil Tennant on "the number of people who went up the hill"

The concept "the number of people that went up the hill" isn't
actually expressible in PA; you would need some set theory for this.

I don't suppose that a constructivist would have much trouble 
with a proof of this in ZF - Power Set - Infinity or in Theory of
Types - Infinity; the best I could do would be to point out that
the proof I would give in ZF or TT or NFU with Infinity would also
be valid in these fragments.

Then I would ask the constructivist about the mathematics of planetary
orbits :-)

And God posted an angel with a flaming sword at | Sincerely, M. Randall Holmes
the gates of Cantor's paradise, that the       | Boise State U. (disavows all) 
slow-witted and the deliberately obtuse might | holmes at math.idbsu.edu
not glimpse the wonders therein. | http://math.idbsu.edu/~holmes



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