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principle of finite induction proven from the well-ordering principle for natural numbers
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(Proof)
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We give a proof for the ``strong" formulation.
Let $S$ be a set of natural numbers such that $n$ belongs to $S$ whenever all numbers less than $n$ belong to $S$ (i.e., assume $\forall n(\forall m<n\ m\in S)\Rightarrow n\in S$ where the quantifiers range over all natural numbers). For indirect proof, suppose that $S$ is not the set of natural numbers $\mathbb{N}$ That is, the complement $\mathbb{N}\setminus S$
is nonempty. The well-ordering principle for natural numbers says that $\mathbb{N}\setminus S$ has a smallest element; call it $a$ By assumption, the statement $(\forall m<a\ m\in S)\Rightarrow a\in S$ holds. Equivalently, the contrapositive statement $a\in \mathbb{N}\setminus S \Rightarrow \exists m<a\ m\in \mathbb{N}\setminus S$ holds. This gives a contradition since the element $a$ is an element of $\mathbb{N}\setminus S$ and is, moreover, the smallest element of $\mathbb{N}\setminus S$
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"principle of finite induction proven from the well-ordering principle for natural numbers" is owned by smw. [ full author list (2) | owner history (1) ]
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Cross-references: contrapositive, well-ordering principle for natural numbers, complement, quantifiers, numbers, natural numbers, strong, proof
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This is version 11 of principle of finite induction proven from the well-ordering principle for natural numbers, born on 2001-10-18, modified 2007-06-21.
Object id is 337, canonical name is PrincipleOfFiniteInductionProvenFromWellOrderingPrinciple.
Accessed 4711 times total.
Classification:
| AMS MSC: | 03E25 (Mathematical logic and foundations :: Set theory :: Axiom of choice and related propositions) |
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Pending Errata and Addenda
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