Proofs and hypotheses

On the basis of an analysis of common features and differences between general statements in every day situations, in physics and in mathematics the paper proposes a didactical approach to proof. It is centred around the idea that inventing hypotheses and testing their consequences is more productive for the understanding of the epistemological nature of proof than forming elaborate chains of deductions. Inventing hypotheses is important within and outside of mathematics. In this approach proving and forming models get in close contact. The idea is exemplified by a teaching unit on the angle sum theorem in Euclidean geometry.     

Proofs and surfaces

A formal sequent system dealing with Menelaus' configurations is introduced in this paper. The axiomatic sequents of the system stem from 2-cycles of Δ-complexes. The Euclidean and projective interpretations of the sequents are defined and a soundness result is proved. This system is decidable and its provable sequents deliver incidence results. A cyclic operad structure tied to this system is presented by generators and relations.     

Hypothetical Logic of Proofs

The logic of proofs is a refinement of modal logic introduced by Artemov in 1995 in which the modality ?A is revisited as ?t?A where t is an expression that bears witness to the validity of A. It enjoys arithmetical soundness and completeness and is capable of reflecting its own proofs (?A implies ? ?t?A, for some t). We develop the Hypothetical Logic of Proofs, a reformulation of LP based on judgemental reasoning.     

Other Proofs of Old Results

We transform the proof of the second incompleteness theorem given in [3] to a proof-theoretic version, avoiding the use of the arithmetized completeness theorem. We give also new proofs of old results: The Arithmetical Hierarchy Theorem and Tarski's Theorem on undefinability of truth; the proofs in which the construction of a sentence by means of diagonalization lemma is not needed.     

Proofs with monotone cuts

Atserias, Galesi, and Pudlák have shown that the monotone sequent calculus MLK quasipolynomially simulates proofs of monotone sequents in the full sequent calculus LK (or equivalently, in Frege systems). We generalize the simulation to the fragment MCLK of LK which can prove arbitrary sequents, but restricts cut‐formulas to be monotone. We also show that MLK as a refutation system for CNFs quasipolynomially simulates LK.     

微分学中不等式的证明

针对微分学不等式列出五种常用证明方法,即利用单调性证明法,利用拉格朗日中值定理证明法,利用最值证明法,利用泰勒公式证明法,和利用凹凸性证明法.实例说明每种方法的使用细节,以达到使初学者能尽快掌握微分学不等式证明的目的.     

Meta-ethics and Justification

The author takes up three metaphysical conceptions of morality — realism, projectivism, constructivism — and the account of justification or reason that makes these pictures possible. It is argued that the right meta-ethical conception should be the one that entails the most plausible conception of reason-giving, rather than by any other consideration. Realism and projectivism, when understood in ways consistent with their fundamental commitments, generate unsatisfactory models of justification; constructivism alone does not. The author also argues for a particular interpretation of how “objective moral obligation” is to be understood within constructivism.

Justification of Huygens' rule

A formalization of Huygens' rule for constructing the wave front by envelopes is suggested. This well-known physical postulate is justified for media whose parameters are nonanalytic functions of coordinates. The proof is based on the generalization due to D. Tataru of the classical Holmgreen uniqueness theorem to the case of equations with nonanalytic coefficients. Bibliography: 14 titles. Translated fromZapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov POMI, Vol. 218, 1994, pp. 17–24. Translated by T. N. Surkova.     

Preservice Teacher Beliefs About Proofs

This article describes a study of backgrounds, beliefs, and attitudes of teachers about proofs. Thirty preservice elementary teachers enrolled in a mathematics content course and 21 secondary mathematics teachers in an abstract algebra course were surveyed. The study explored four issues: preservice teachers' experiences/exposure to proof, their beliefs about what constitutes a proof and the role of proof in mathematics, and their beliefs about when proof should be introduced in grades K-12. Results of the survey are described as a means for discussing the backgrounds and beliefs future teachers hold with regard to teaching proofs in their own classrooms. Finally, a short collection of sample explorations and questions, which could be used to encourage the thinking and writing of proofs in grades K-12, is provided. One of these questions was posed to 215 secondary students; examples of their reasoning and a discussion of the various techniques employed by the students are included.     

Proofs as bearers of mathematical knowledge

Yehuda Rav’s inspiring paper “Why do we prove theorems?” published in Philosophia Mathematica (1999, 7, pp. 5–41) has interesting implications for mathematics education. We examine Rav’s central ideas on proof—that proofs convey important elements of mathematics such as strategies and methods, that it is “proofs rather than theorems that are the bearers of mathematical knowledge”and thus that proofs should be the primary focus of mathematical interest—and then discuss their significance for mathematics education in general and for the teaching of proof in particular.     

Extracting Algorithms from Intuitionistic Proofs

This paper presents a new method - which does not rely on the cut-elimination theorem - for characterizing the provably total functions of certain intuitionistic subsystems of arithmetic. The new method hinges on a realizability argument within an infinitary language. We illustrate the method for the intuitionistic counterpart of Buss's theory S, and we briefly sketch it for the other levels of bounded arithmetic and for the theory IΣ₁.     

Prototype Proofs in Type Theory

The proofs of universally quantified statements, in mathematics, are given as “schemata” or as “prototypes” which may be applied to each specific instance of the quantified variable. Type Theory allows to turn into a rigorous notion this informal intuition described by many, including Herbrand. In this constructive approach where propositions are types, proofs are viewed as terms of λ‐calculus and act as “proof‐schemata”, as for universally quantified types. We examine here the critical case of Impredicative Type Theory, i. e. Girard's system F, where type‐quantification ranges over all types. Coherence and decidability properties are proved for prototype proofs in this impredicative context.     

一个不等式的三种证明

针对某教材中关于凹函数不等式的一道证明题,分别采用单调性、泰勒公式和中值定理给出三种证明方法,旨在帮助学生拓展其思维广度,培养其综合能力,提高其数学素质．     

一个命题的多种证明

在解答某文献中的一个问题的过程中,得到了一个命题.用不同的方法给出了该名题的多种证明.