The constructive completion of the space 𝒟(ℝ)

We prove in the framework of Bishop's constructive mathematics that the sequential completion $ \tilde {\cal D} $(?) of the space ??(?) is filter‐complete. Then it follows as a corollary that the filter‐completeness of ??(?) is equivalent to the principle BD‐?, which can be proved in classical mathematics, Brouwer's intuitionistic mathematics and constructive recursive mathematics of Markov's school, but does not in Bishop's constructive mathematics. We also show that $ \tilde {\cal D} $(?) is identical with the filter‐completion which was provided by Bishop. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Specker sequences revisited

Specker sequences are constructive, increasing, bounded sequences of rationals that do not converge to any constructive real. A sequence is said to be a strong Specker sequence if it is Specker and eventually bounded away from every constructive real. Within Bishop's constructive mathematics we investigate non‐decreasing, bounded sequences of rationals that eventually avoid sets that are unions of (countable) sequences of intervals with rational endpoints. This yields surprisingly straightforward proofs of certain basic results fromconstructive mathematics. Within Russian constructivism, we show how to use this general method to generate Specker sequences. Furthermore, we show that any nonvoid subset of the constructive reals that has no isolated points contains a strictly increasing sequence that is eventually bounded away from every constructive real. If every neighborhood of every point in the subset contains a rational number different from that point, the subset contains a strong Specker sequence. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The Banach‐Steinhaus theorem for the space 𝒟(ℝ) in constructive analysis

We prove the Banach‐Steinhaus theorem for distributions on the space ??(?) within Bishop's constructive mathematics. To this end, we investigate the constructive sequential completion (?) of ??(?).     

Powers of positive elements in C*‐algebras

In this paper, we show that Ogasawa’s theorem has a proof in Bishop style constructive mathematics (BISH). In 25 , we introduced the elementary constructive theory of C*‐algebras in BISH, but we did not discuss the powers of positive elements there. © 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim     

The Kripke schema in metric topology

A form of Kripke's schema turns out to be equivalent to each of the following two statements from metric topology: every open subspace of a separable metric space is separable; every open subset of a separable metric space is a countable union of open balls. Thus Kripke's schema serves as a point of reference for classifying theorems of classical mathematics within Bishop‐style constructive reverse mathematics.     

The anti-Specker property, a Heine–Borel property, and uniform continuity

Working within Bishop’s constructive framework, we examine the connection between a weak version of the Heine–Borel property, a property antithetical to that in Specker’s theorem in recursive analysis, and the uniform continuity theorem for integer-valued functions. The paper is a contribution to the ongoing programme of constructive reverse mathematics.     

Separation properties in neighbourhood and quasi‐apartness spaces

We investigate separation properties for neighbourhood spaces in some details within a framework of constructive mathematics, and define corresponding separation properties for quasi‐apartness spaces. We also deal with separation properties for spaces with inequality. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

To be or not to be constructive,that is not the question

In the early twentieth century, L.E.J. Brouwer pioneered a new philosophy of mathematics, called intuitionism. Intuitionism was revolutionary in many respects but stands out – mathematically speaking – for its challenge of Hilbert’s formalist philosophy of mathematics and rejection of the law of excluded middle from the ‘classical’ logic used in mainstream mathematics. Out of intuitionism grew intuitionistic logic and the associated Brouwer–Heyting–Kolmogorov interpretation by which ‘there exists $x$’ intuitively means ‘an algorithm to compute $x$ is given’. A number of schools of constructive mathematics were developed, inspired by Brouwer’s intuitionism and invariably based on intuitionistic logic, but with varying interpretations of what constitutes an algorithm. This paper deals with the dichotomy between constructive and non-constructive mathematics, or rather the absence of such an ‘excluded middle’. In particular, we challenge the ‘binary’ view that mathematics is either constructive or not. To this end, we identify a part of classical mathematics, namely classical Nonstandard Analysis, and show it inhabits the twilight-zone between the constructive and non-constructive. Intuitively, the predicate ‘$x$ is standard’ typical of Nonstandard Analysis can be interpreted as ‘$x$ is computable’, giving rise to computable (and sometimes constructive) mathematics obtained directly from classical Nonstandard Analysis. Our results formalise Osswald’s longstanding conjecture that classical Nonstandard Analysis is locally constructive. Finally, an alternative explanation of our results is provided by Brouwer’s thesis that logic depends upon mathematics.     

A Definitive Constructive Open Mapping Theorem?

It is proved, within Bishop's constructive mathematics (BISH), that, in the context of a Hilbert space, the Open Mapping Theorem is equivalent to a principle that holds in intuitionistic mathematics and recursive constructive mathematics but is unlikely to be provable within BISH.     

Unique solutions

It is folklore that if a continuous function on a complete metric space has approximate roots and in a uniform manner at most one root, then it actually has a root, which of course is uniquely determined. Also in Bishop's constructive mathematics with countable choice, the general setting of the present note, there is a simple method to validate this heuristic principle. The unique solution even becomes a continuous function in the parameters by a mild modification of the uniqueness hypothesis. Moreover, Brouwer's fan theorem for decidable bars turns out to be equivalent to the statement that, for uniformly continuous functions on a compact metric space, the crucial uniform “at most one” condition follows from its non‐uniform counterpart. This classification in the spirit of the constructive reverse mathematics, as propagated by Ishihara and others, sharpens an earlier result obtained jointly with Berger and Bridges. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A note on the axiomatisation of real numbers

Is it possible to give an abstract characterisation of constructive real numbers? A condition should be that all axioms are valid for Dedekind reals in any topos, or for constructive reals in Bishop mathematics. We present here a possible first‐order axiomatisation of real numbers, which becomes complete if one adds the law of excluded middle. As an application of the forcing relation defined in [3, 2], we give a proof that the formula which specifies the maximum function is not provable in this theory. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Compactness under constructive scrutiny

How are the various classically equivalent definitions of compactness for metric spaces constructively interrelated? This question is addressed with Bishop‐style constructive mathematics as the basic system – that is, the underlying logic is the intuitionistic one enriched with the principle of dependent choices. Besides surveying today's knowledge, the consequences and equivalents of several sequential notions of compactness are investigated. For instance, we establish the perhaps unexpected constructive implication that every sequentially compact separable metric space is totally bounded. As a by‐product, the fan theorem for detachable bars of the complete binary fan proves to be necessary for the unit interval possessing the Heine‐Borel property for coverings by countably many possibly empty open balls. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The swap of integral and limit in constructive mathematics

Integration within constructive, especially intuitionistic mathematics in the sense of L. E. J. Brouwer, slightly differs from formal integration theories: Some classical results, especially Lebesgue's dominated convergence theorem, have tobe substituted by appropriate alternatives. Although there exist sophisticated, but rather laborious proposals, e.g. by E. Bishop and D. S. Bridges (cf. [2]), the reference to partitions and the Riemann‐integral, also with regard to the results obtained by R. Henstock and J. Kurzweil (cf. [9], [12]), seems to give a better direction. Especially, convergence theorems can be proved by introducing the concept of “equi‐integrability”. The paper is strongly motivated by Brouwer's result that each function fully defined on a compact interval has necessarily to be uniformly continuous. Nevertheless, there are, with only one exception (a corollary of Theorem 4.2), no references to the fan‐theorem or to bar‐induction. Therefore, the whole paper can be read within the setting of Bishop's access to constructive mathematics. Nothing of genuine full‐fledged Brouwerian intuitionism is used for the main results in this note (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Generalising compactness

Working within the framework of Bishop's constructive mathematics, we will show that it is possible to define compactness in a more general setting than that of uniform spaces. It is also shown that it is not possible to do this in a topological space. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Continuous homomorphisms of R onto a compact group

It is shown within Bishop's constructive mathematics that, under one extra, classically automatic, hypothesis, a continuous homomorphism from R onto a compact metric abelian group is periodic, but that the existence of the minimum value of the period is not derivable (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A note on Bar Induction in Constructive Set Theory

Bar Induction occupies a central place in Brouwerian mathematics. This note is concerned with the strength of Bar Induction on the basis of Constructive Zermelo‐Fraenkel Set Theory, CZF. It is shown that CZF augmented by decidable Bar Induction proves the 1‐consistency of CZF. This answers a question of P. Aczel who used Bar Induction to give a proof of the Lusin Separation Theorem in the constructive set theory CZF. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Constructive complements of unions of two closed sets

It is well known that in Bishop‐style constructive mathematics, the closure of the union of two subsets of ? is ‘not’ the union of their closures. The dual situation, involving the complement of the closure of the union, is investigated constructively, using completeness of the ambient space in order to avoid any application of Markov's Principle. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A minimalist two-level foundation for constructive mathematics

We present a two-level theory to formalize constructive mathematics as advocated in a previous paper with G. Sambin.One level is given by an intensional type theory, called Minimal type theory. This theory extends a previous version with collections.The other level is given by an extensional set theory that is interpreted in the first one by means of a quotient model.This two-level theory has two main features: it is minimal among the most relevant foundations for constructive mathematics; it is constructive thanks to the way the extensional level is linked to the intensional one which fulfills the “proofs-as-programs” paradigm and acts as a programming language.     

Constructive notions of equicontinuity

In the informal setting of Bishop-style constructive reverse mathematics we discuss the connection between the antithesis of Specker’s theorem, Ishihara’s principle BD-N, and various types of equicontinuity. In particular, we prove that the implication from pointwise equicontinuity to uniform sequential equicontinuity is equivalent to the antithesis of Specker’s theorem; and that, for a family of functions on a separable metric space, the implication from uniform sequential equicontinuity to uniform equicontinuity is equivalent to BD-N.      

Resolution of the uniform lower bound problem in constructive analysis

In a previous paper we constructed a full and faithful functor ?? from the category of locally compact metric spaces to the category of formal topologies (representations of locales). Here we show that for a real‐valued continuous function f, ??(f) factors through the localic positive reals if, and only if, f has a uniform positive lower bound on each ball in the locally compact space. We work within the framework of Bishop constructive mathematics, where the latter notion is strictly stronger than point‐wise positivity. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)