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Sam Sanders

Publications and source records attributed to Sam Sanders.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Numerical choice, Riemann integration, and Reverse Mathematics

Riemann integration remains a well-known part of mathematics for both historical and conceptual reasons. We study basic properties like boundedness of Riemann integrable functions and related classes in mathematical logic. On one hand, weak logical systems already establish that a Riemann integrable function on the unit interval is bounded or dominated by a continuous function. On the other hand, the following slight generalisation already implies a rather strong logical system, namely the `Big Five' system ATR$_{0}$ which accommodates transfinite recursion. $$ \text{For $f:\mathbb{R}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ Riemann integrable on any interval $[-a, a]$ for $a>0$, there is continuous $g:\mathbb{R}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ with $f(x)\leq g(x)$ for all $x\in \mathbb{R}$.} $$ As part of the \emph{Reverse Mathematics} program, we obtain equivalences for the centred statement and variations involving the axiom of numerical choice. A central result is that numerical choice for $\Pi_{1}^{1}$-formulas is equivalent to ATR$_{0}$. We also obtain equivalences involving basic properties of metric spaces and establish connections to Kohlenbach's generalisations of weak K\"onig's lemma, Cousin's lemma, and the representation of open sets.

math.LO

On countability and representations

The topic of this paper is the subtle interplay between countability and representations. In particular, we establish that the definition of countability of a certain set $X$ crucially hinges on the associated equivalence relation $=_{X}$. Armed with this knowledge, we study well-known and basic principles about countable sets, going back to Cantor, Sierpi\'nski, and K\"{o}nig, working in Kohlenbach's higher-order Reverse Mathematics. While these principles are relatively weak in second-order Reverse Mathematics, we obtain equivalences involving countable choice and Feferman's projection principle. The latter are essentially the strongest axioms studied in higher-order Reverse Mathematics and usually only come to the fore when dealing with the uncountable.

math.LO

The uncountability of the reals and the Axiom of Choice

The uncountability of the reals was first established by Cantor in what was later heralded as the first paper on set theory. Since the latter constitutes the official foundations of mathematics, the logical study of the uncountability of the reals is a worthy endeavour for historical, foundational, and conceptual reasons. In this paper, we shall study the following principle: $\textsf{NIN}_{[0,1]}$: there is no injection from the unit interval to the natural numbers. We show that relatively strong logical systems cannot prove $\textsf{NIN}_{[0,1]}$. In particular, the former system implies second-order arithmetic and fragments of the Axiom of Choice, including dependent choice. We also study the latter choice fragments in Kohlenbach's higher-order Reverse Mathematics.

math.LO

On the computational properties of ambivalent sets and functions

Examples of discontinuous functions already appear in the work of Euler, Abel, Dirichlet, Fourier, and Bolzano. A ground-breaking discovery due to Baire was that many discontinuous functions are well-behaved in that they are the pointwise limit of a sequence of continuous functions; the latter form a class nowadays simply called `Baire 1'. We shall study a class strictly between the semi-continuous and Baire 1 functions, called the ambivalent fuctions. In particular, we investigate the computational properties of the class of ambivalent functions and sets, denoted $\bf \Delta$, working with Kleene's S1-S9 schemes. Computational equivalences for various standard operations (supremum, Baire 1 representation, \dots) on $\bf \Delta$ are established, including the structure functional $\Omega_{\bf \Delta}$ that decides if a given ambivalent set is non-empty. A selector is shown to be computable relative to $\Omega_{\bf \Delta}$ and Kleene's quantifier $\exists^{2}$.

math.LO

Formalism 25

Abraham Robinson's philosophical stance has been the subject of several recent studies. Erhardt following Gaifman claims that Robinson was a finitist, and that there is a tension between his philosophical position and his actual mathematical output. We present evidence in Robinson's writing that he is more accurately described as adhering to the philosophical approach of Formalism. Furthermore, we show that Robinson explicitly argued {against} certain finitist positions in his philosophical writings. There is no tension between Robinson's mathematical work and his philosophy because mathematics and metamathematics are distinct fields: Robinson advocates finitism for metamathematics but no such restriction for mathematics. We show that Erhardt's analysis is marred by historical errors, by routine conflation of the generic and the technical meaning of several key terms, and by a philosophical {parti pris}. Robinson's Formalism remains a viable alternative to mathematical Platonism.

math.HO

From real analysis to the sorites paradox via Reverse Mathematics

This paper presents a reverse mathematical analysis of several forms of the sorites paradox. We first illustrate how traditional formulations are reliant on H\"older's Representation Theorem for ordered Archimedean groups. While this is provable in RCA$_0$, we also consider two forms of the sorites which rest on non-constructive principles: the continuous sorites of Weber & Colyvan (2010) and a variant we refer to as the covering sorites. We show in the setting of second-order arithmetic that the former depends on the existence of suprema and thus on arithmetical comprehension (ACA$_0$) while the latter depends on the Heine-Borel Theorem and thus on Weak K\"onig's Lemma (WKL$_0$). We finally illustrate how recursive counterexamples to these principles provide resolutions to the corresponding paradoxes which can be contrasted with supervaluationist, epistemicist, and constructivist approaches.

math.LO

Coding is hard

A central topic in mathematical logic is the classification of theorems from mathematics in hierarchies according to their logical strength. Ideally, the place of a theorem in a hierarchy does not depend on the representation (aka coding) used. In this paper, we show that the standard representation of compact metric spaces in second-order arithmetic has a profound effect. To this end, we study basic theorems for such spaces like a continuous function has a supremum and a countable set has measure zero. We show that these and similar third-order statements imply at least Feferman's highly non-constructive projection principle, and even full second-order arithmetic or countable choice in some cases. When formulated with representations (aka codes), the associated second-order theorems are provable in rather weak fragments of second-order arithmetic. Thus, we arrive at the slogan that coding compact metric spaces in the language of second-order arithmetic can be as hard as second-order arithmetic or countable choice. We believe every mathematician should be aware of this slogan, as central foundational topics in mathematics make use of the standard second-order representation of compact metric spaces. In the process of collecting evidence for the above slogan, we establish a number of equivalences involving Feferman's projection principle and countable choice. We also study generalisations to fourth-order arithmetic and beyond with similar-but-stronger results.

math.LO

Connecting real and hyperarithmetical analysis

Going back to Kreisel in the Sixties, hyperarithmetical analysis is a cluster of logical systems just beyond arithmetical comprehension. Only recently natural examples of theorems from the mathematical mainstream were identified that fit this category. In this paper, we provide many examples of theorems of real analysis that sit within the range of hyperarithmetical analysis, namely between the higher-order version of $\Sigma_1^1$-AC$_0$ and weak-$\Sigma_1^1$-AC$_0$, working in Kohlenbach's higher-order framework. Our example theorems are based on the Jordan decomposition theorem, unordered sums, metric spaces, and semi-continuous functions. Along the way, we identify a couple of new systems of hyperarithmetical analysis.

math.LO

On two recent extensions of the Big Five of Reverse Mathematics

The program Reverse Mathematics in the foundations of mathematics seeks to identify the minimal axioms required to prove theorems of ordinary mathematics. One always assumes the base theory, a logical system embodying computable mathematics. As it turns out, many (most?) theorems are either provable in said base theory, or equivalent to one of four logical systems, collectively called the Big Five. This paper provides an overview of two recent extensions of the Big Five, working in Kohlenbach's higher-order framework. On one hand, we obtain a large number of equivalences between the second-order Big Five and third-order theorems of real analysis dealing with possibly discontinuous functions. On the other hand, we identify four new 'Big' systems, i.e. boasting many equivalences over the base theory, namely the uncountability of the reals, the Jordan decomposition theorem, the Baire category theorem, and Tao's pigeon hole principle for the Lebesgue measure. We discuss a connection to hyperarithmetical analysis, completing the picture.

math.LO

Sometimes tame, sometimes wild: weak continuity

Continuity is one of the most central notions in mathematics, physics, and computer science. An interesting associated topic is decompositions of continuity, where continuity is shown to be equivalent to the combination of two or more weak continuity notions. In this paper, we study the logical properties of basic theorems about weakly continuous functions, like the supremum principle for the unit interval. We establish that most weak continuity notions are as tame as continuity, i.e. the supremum principle can be proved from the relatively weak arithmetical comprehension axiom only. By contrast, for seven 'wild' weak continuity notions, the associated supremum principle yields rather strong axioms, including Feferman's projection principle, full second-order arithmetic, or Kleene's associated quantifier $(\exists^3)$. Working in Kohlenbach's higher-order Reverse Mathematics, we also obtain elegant equivalences in various cases and obtain similar results for e.g. Riemann integration. We believe these results to be of interest to mainstream mathematics as they cast new light on the distinction of 'ordinary mathematics' versus 'foundations of mathematics/set theory'.

math.LO

A note on continuous functions on metric spaces

Continuous functions on the unit interval are relatively tame from the logical and computational point of view. A similar behaviour is exhibited by continuous functions on compact metric spaces equipped with a countable dense subset. It is then a natural question what happens if we omit the latter 'extra data', i.e. work with 'unrepresented' compact metric spaces. In this paper, we study basic third-order statements about continuous functions on such unrepresented compact metric spaces in Kohlenbach's higher-order Reverse Mathematics. We establish that some (very specific) statements are classified in the (second-order) Big Five of Reverse Mathematics, while most variations/generalisations are not provable from the latter, and much stronger systems. Thus, continuous functions on unrepresented metric spaces are 'wild', though 'more tame' than (slightly) discontinuous functions on the reals.

math.LO

On sequential theorems in Reverse Mathematics

Many theorems of mathematics have the form that for a certain problem, e.g. a differential equation or polynomial (in)equality, there exists a solution. The sequential version then states that for a sequence of problems, there is a sequence of solutions. The original and sequential theorem can often be proved via the same (or similar) proof and often have the same (or similar) logical properties, esp. if everything is formulated in the language of second-order arithmetic. In this paper, we identify basic theorems of third-order arithmetic, e.g. concerning semi-continuous functions, such that the sequential versions have very different logical properties. In particular, depending on the constructive status of the original theorem, very different and independent choice principles are needed. Despite these differences, the associated Reverse Mathematics, working in Kohlenbach's higher-order framework, is rather elegant and is still based at the core on weak K\"onig's lemma.

math.LO

On some computational properties of open sets

Open sets are central to mathematics, especially analysis and topology, in ways few notions are. In most, if not all, computational approaches to mathematics, open sets are only studied indirectly via their 'codes' or 'representations'. In this paper, we study how hard it is to compute, given an arbitrary open set of reals, the most common representation, i.e. a countable set of open intervals. We work in Kleene's higher-order computability theory, which was historically based on the S1-S9 schemes and which now has an intuitive lambda calculus formulation due to the authors. We establish many computational equivalences between on one hand the 'structure' functional that converts open sets to the aforementioned representation, and on the other hand functionals arising from mainstream mathematics, like basic properties of semi-continuous functions, the Urysohn lemma, and the Tietze extension theorem. We also compare these functionals to known operations on regulated and bounded variation functions, and the Lebesgue measure restricted to closed sets. We obtain a number of natural computational equivalences for the latter involving theorems from mainstream mathematics.

math.LO

Approximation theorems throughout Reverse Mathematics

Reverse Mathematics (RM for short) is a program in the foundations of mathematics where the aim is to find the minimal axioms needed to prove a given theorem of ordinary mathematics. Generally, the minimal axioms are equivalent to the theorem at hand, assuming a weak logical system called the base theory. Moreover, many (most?) theorems are either provable in the base theory or equivalent to one of four logical systems, together called the Big Five. For instance, the Weierstrass approximation theorem, i.e. that a continuous function can be approximated uniformly by a sequence of polynomials, has been classified in RM as being equivalent to weak Koenig's lemma, the second Big Five system. In this paper, we study approximation theorems for discontinuous functions via Bernstein polynomials from the literature. We obtain (many) equivalences between the latter and weak Koenig's lemma. We also show that slight variations of these approximation theorems fall far outside of the Big Five but fit in the recently developed RM of new 'big' systems, namely the uncountability of R, the enumeration principle for countable sets, the pigeon-hole principle for measure, and the Baire category theorem. In conclusion, one equivalence in second-order RM, namely for the Weierstrass approximation theorem, gives rise to many equivalences in higher-order RM, and we hope the case study in this paper can serve as a kind of template.

math.LO

Exploring the abyss in Kleene's computability theory

Kleene's computability theory based on the S1-S9 computation schemes constitutes a model for computing with objects of any finite type and extends Turing's 'machine model' which formalises computing with real numbers. A fundamental distinction in Kleene's framework is between normal and non-normal functionals where the former compute the associated Kleene quantifier $\exists^n$ and the latter do not. Historically, the focus was on normal functionals, but recently new non-normal functionals have been studied based on well-known theorems, the weakest among which seems to be the uncountability of the reals. These new non-normal functionals are fundamentally different from historical examples like Tait's fan functional: the latter is computable from $\exists^2$, while the former are computable in $\exists^3$ but not in weaker oracles. Of course, there is a great divide or abyss separating $\exists^2$ and $\exists^3$ and we identify slight variations of our new non-normal functionals that are again computable in $\exists^2$, i.e. fall on different sides of this abyss. Our examples are based on mainstream mathematical notions, like quasi-continuity, Baire classes, bounded variation, and semi-continuity from real analysis.

math.LO

Big in Reverse Mathematics: measure and category

The smooth development of large parts of mathematics hinges on the idea that some sets are `small' or `negligible' and can therefore be ignored for a given purpose. The perhaps most famous smallness notion, namely `measure zero', originated with Lebesgue, while a second smallness notion, namely `meagre' or `first category', originated with Baire around the same time. The associated Baire category theorem is a central result governing the properties of meagre (and related) sets, while the same holds for Tao's pigeonhole principle for measure spaes and measure zero sets. In this paper, we study these theorems in Kohlenbach's higher-order Reverse Mathematics, identifying a considerable number of equivalent theorems. The latter involve most basic properties of semi-continuous and pointwise discontinuous functions, Blumberg's theorem, Riemann integration, and Volterra's early work circa 1881. All the aforementioned theorems fall (far) outside of the Big Five of Reverse Mathematics, and we investigate natural restrictions like Baire 1 and quasi-continuity that make these theorems provable again in the Big Five (or similar). Finally, despite the fundamental differences between measure and category, the proofs of our equivalences turn out to be similar.

math.LO

The non-normal abyss in Kleene's computability theory

Kleene's computability theory based on his S1-S9 computation schemes constitutes a model for computing with objects of any finite type and extends Turing's `machine model' which formalises computing with real numbers. A fundamental distinction in Kleene's framework is between normal and non-normal functionals where the former compute the associated Kleene quantifier $\exists^{n}$ and the latter do not. Historically, the focus was on normal functionals, but recently new non-normal functionals have been studied, based on well-known theorems like the uncountability of the reals. These new non-normal functionals are fundamentally different from historical examples like Tait's fan functional: the latter is computable from $\exists^{2}$ while the former are only computable in $\exists^{3}$. While there is a great divide separating $\exists^{2}$ and $\exists^{3}$, we identify certain closely related non-normal functionals that fall on different sides of this abyss. Our examples are based on mainstream mathematical notions, like quasi-continuity, Baire classes, and semi-continuity.

math.LO