Questions tagged [axioms]

For questions on axioms, mathematical statements that are accepted as being true, usually without controversy.

An axiom is a premise or starting point of reasoning. As classically conceived, an axiom is a premise so evident as to be accepted as true without controversy.

Axioms define and delimit the realm of analysis. In other words, an axiom is a formal statement that is assumed to be true. Therefore, its truth is taken for granted within the particular domain of analysis, and serves as a starting point for deducing and inferring other (theory and domain dependent) truths. An axiom is defined as a mathematical statement that is accepted as being true without a mathematical proof.

It should be mentioned that in modern times some statements receive a status of axioms, but they are still provable from weaker theories using other statements. One famous example is the axiom of choice, which is provable from ZF set theory if we assume Zorn's lemma. Generally, in modern foundations of mathematics, an axiom is just a statement in the base theory.

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Are there any axiomatic/mathematical paradoxes with defining X/0= infinity?

Are there any axiomatic or mathematical paradoxes with assuming that any number divided by zero equals that number multiplied by infinity, if we also assumed concepts such…
jacobj
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How weak is the weak form of Zorn's lemma?

The weak form being the form equivalent to the axiom of dependent choice. So what I mean is: is it insufficient for the development of functional analysis and everything else Zorn's lemma implies? Or is it simply the reason we can't prove that not…
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Directly proving $(-a)^2 = a^2$

I know one can easily prove that $(-a)^2 = a^2$ from $(-a)*0 = (-a)(a+(-a)) = (-a)^2+(-a)a$ and one can also show that $(-a)a = -a^2$ (or even $(-a) = (-1)*a$), however, is there a way of starting with $(-a)^2$ and end with $a^2$ directly, simply in…
Frank Vel
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Proof using the axioms

how do you prove that -(-a)=a using the basic axioms? I know that -a is the adatative inverse of a but i'm not sure where to go from that.
Smithy
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Consistency in Related Sets of Axioms?

If I have a set of axioms A = {A1, ..., An} and if I create a set of axioms B = {A1, ..., An, Con(A)}, would it be true to say that Con(A) iff Con(B)? Is there a simple counter-example to this? More generally, if something X is true of A and we…
user221347
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Formal axiomatic system(s) which has/have--or, alternatively, hasn't/haven't--produced at least one equation or model that matches observation

Hopefully I'm not wrong to suspect that the various formal axiomatic systems, which mathematicians develop, have varying amounts of empirical support (not that I generally know such systems, except by name, admittedly). Similarly, I suspect that…
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