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semolinapudding | 1 year ago

The axioms of second order Peano arithmetic are certainly recursively enumerable, in fact you can pick a formulation that only uses a finite number of axioms. And second order arithmetic is much weaker than the type system of Lean, which is probably somewhere between Zermelo set theory and ZFC set theory in terms of proof-theoretic strength.

More generally, I think that computer scientists (in particular PL theorists and type theorists) are much more likely to use powerful logics than mathematicians, with the obvious exception of set theorists.

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gedpeck|1 year ago

Do you have a reference for the second order induction schema being recursively enumerable? My understanding - I’m not a logician - is that the second order Peano Axioms are categorical. The Incompleteness theorems don’t apply to this system since the axioms are not recursively enumerable. The second order Axioms are different than second order Arithmetic.

https://mathoverflow.net/questions/97077/z-2-versus-second-o...

In the following mathoverflow answer Nik says,

These are fundamental questions. We know that any computable set of axioms which holds of the natural numbers must also have nonstandard models.

The second order Peano Axioms are not computable since those axioms are categorical.

https://mathoverflow.net/questions/332247/defining-the-stand...

Are you of the opinion that mathematics is computer science? I have a hard time believing that the Jacobian Conjecture is computer science.

semolinapudding|1 year ago

If you look at the Wikipedia page for second order arithmetic, there is a definition in the language of first order logic as a two-sorted theory comprising a handful of basic axioms, the comprehension scheme, and the second-order induction axiom (in your first mathoverflow link, this is called Z_2):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-order_arithmetic#The_fu...

An other equivalent option would be to use the language of second order logic, where you only need a finite amount of axioms, because the comprehension scheme is already included in the rules of second order logic. This one is PA_2.

Since these definitions do not refer to anything uncomputable such as mathematical truth, both systems are clearly recursively enumerable. This means that Gödel's incompleteness theorem applies to both, in the sense that you can define a sentence in the language of arithmetic that is unprovable in Z_2 or PA_2, and whose negation is also unprovable.

All of these considerations have little to do with models or categoricity, which are semantic notions. I think your confusion stems from the fact that model theorists have the habit of using a different kind of semantics for Z_2 (Henkin semantics) and PA_2 (full semantics). Henkin semantics are just first order semantics with two sorts, which means that Gödel's completeness theorem applies and there are nonstandard models. Full semantics, on the other hand, are categorical (there is only one model), but this has nothing to do with the axioms not being recursively enumerable -- it is just because we use a different notion of model.

PS: I certainly do not consider mathematics to be included in computer science. Even though as a logician, I have been employed in both mathematics departments and computer science departments...

Tainnor|1 year ago

> My understanding - I’m not a logician - is that the second order Peano Axioms are categorical. The Incompleteness theorems don’t apply to this system since the axioms are not recursively enumerable

Incompleteness does apply to second order arithmetic (it applies to every logical system that contains first order PA), but due to different reasons: second order logic doesn't have a complete proof calculus. "Second-order PA is categorical" means that there is only one model of second-order PA, that is, for every sentence P, either PA2 |= P or PA2 |= not(P), but you'll still have sentences P such that neither PA2 |- P nor PA2 |- not(P) - and for "practical" purposes, the existence of proofs is what matters.