What is the most specific word that describes both? As in "all theorems and conjectures are ..." ?
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6Mathematical statements? – Ragib Zaman Oct 04 '11 at 23:25
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@Ragib - possibly. I'm not a native English speaker, I wasn't sure that was the term. You can post it as an answer. – ripper234 Oct 04 '11 at 23:34
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The term "Mathematical statements" is perhaps slightly too general for many intended purposes. Though theorems and conjectures form a subset of all mathematical statements, theorems must be true and we hope for conjectures to be true, while there are many mathematical statements which are false. This distinction is very far from minor (for a mathematician), however due to the inherent difference between a theorem and a conjecture, for a more precise description you would definitely have to sacrifice conciseness.
Ragib Zaman
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1+1 Besides, a theorem-conjecture is -to some degree- general, significant, fundamental (it's not only true but -potentially- a source of mathematical truth). "15 is greater than 13" is a true mathematical statement, but it's hardly a theorem (in common speak) – leonbloy Oct 05 '11 at 01:29
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A Proposition.
Or perhaps a '(mathematical) assertion'
Rex Butler
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1I'll just point out that the words "proposition" and "claim" are used in papers (loosely speaking) as an alternative to "theorem" and "lemma". When used in that context, a proposition or a claim has to be of the 'verified' sort :) – Srivatsan Oct 05 '11 at 00:45
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