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Fraïssé's Conjecture
Laver's theorem, in order theory, states that order embeddability of countable total orders is a well-quasi-ordering. That is, for every infinite sequence of totally-ordered countable sets, there exists an order embedding from an earlier member of the sequence to a later member. This result was previously known as Fraïssé's conjecture, after Roland Fraïssé, who conjectured it in 1948; Richard Laver proved the conjecture in 1971. More generally, Laver proved the same result for order embeddings of countable unions of scattered orders. In reverse mathematics, the version of the theorem for countable orders is denoted FRA (for Fraïssé) and the version for countable unions of scattered orders is denoted LAV (for Laver). In terms of the "big five" systems of second-order arithmetic, FRA is known to fall in strength somewhere between the strongest two systems, \Pi_1^1-CA0 and ATR0, and to be weaker than \Pi_1^1-CA0. However, it remains open whether it is equivalent to ATR0 or stric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Order Theory
Order theory is a branch of mathematics that investigates the intuitive notion of order using binary relations. It provides a formal framework for describing statements such as "this is less than that" or "this precedes that". This article introduces the field and provides basic definitions. A list of order-theoretic terms can be found in the order theory glossary. Background and motivation Orders are everywhere in mathematics and related fields like computer science. The first order often discussed in primary school is the standard order on the natural numbers e.g. "2 is less than 3", "10 is greater than 5", or "Does Tom have fewer cookies than Sally?". This intuitive concept can be extended to orders on other sets of numbers, such as the integers and the reals. The idea of being greater than or less than another number is one of the basic intuitions of number systems in general (although one usually is also interested in the actual difference of two numbers, which is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Order Embedding
In order theory, a branch of mathematics, an order embedding is a special kind of monotone function, which provides a way to include one partially ordered set into another. Like Galois connections, order embeddings constitute a notion which is strictly weaker than the concept of an order isomorphism. Both of these weakenings may be understood in terms of category theory. Formal definition Formally, given two partially ordered sets (posets) (S, \leq) and (T, \preceq), a function (mathematics), function f: S \to T is an ''order embedding'' if f is both order-preserving and order-reflecting, i.e. for all x and y in S, one has : x\leq y \text f(x)\preceq f(y).. Such a function is necessarily injective, since f(x) = f(y) implies x \leq y and y \leq x. If an order embedding between two posets S and T exists, one says that S can be embedded into T. Properties An order isomorphism can be characterized as a surjective order embedding. As a consequence, any order embedding ''f'' rest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Total Order
In mathematics, a total order or linear order is a partial order in which any two elements are comparable. That is, a total order is a binary relation \leq on some set X, which satisfies the following for all a, b and c in X: # a \leq a ( reflexive). # If a \leq b and b \leq c then a \leq c ( transitive). # If a \leq b and b \leq a then a = b ( antisymmetric). # a \leq b or b \leq a ( strongly connected, formerly called totality). Requirements 1. to 3. just make up the definition of a partial order. Reflexivity (1.) already follows from strong connectedness (4.), but is required explicitly by many authors nevertheless, to indicate the kinship to partial orders. Total orders are sometimes also called simple, connex, or full orders. A set equipped with a total order is a totally ordered set; the terms simply ordered set, linearly ordered set, toset and loset are also used. The term ''chain'' is sometimes defined as a synonym of ''totally ordered set'', but generally refers to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Well-quasi-ordering
In mathematics, specifically order theory, a well-quasi-ordering or wqo on a set X is a quasi-ordering of X for which every infinite sequence of elements x_0, x_1, x_2, \ldots from X contains an increasing pair x_i \leq x_j with i x_2> \cdots) nor infinite sequences of ''pairwise incomparable'' elements. Hence a quasi-order (''X'', ≤) is wqo if and only if (''X'', <) is well-founded and has no infinite antichains. Ordinal type Let be well partially ordered. A (necessarily finite) sequence of elements of that contains no pair with is usually called a ''bad sequence''. The ''tree of bad sequences'' is the tree that contains a vertex for each bad ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sequence
In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is called the ''length'' of the sequence. Unlike a set, the same elements can appear multiple times at different positions in a sequence, and unlike a set, the order does matter. Formally, a sequence can be defined as a function from natural numbers (the positions of elements in the sequence) to the elements at each position. The notion of a sequence can be generalized to an indexed family, defined as a function from an ''arbitrary'' index set. For example, (M, A, R, Y) is a sequence of letters with the letter "M" first and "Y" last. This sequence differs from (A, R, M, Y). Also, the sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8), which contains the number 1 at two different positions, is a valid sequence. Sequences can be '' finite'', as in these examples, or '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Countable Set
In mathematics, a set is countable if either it is finite or it can be made in one to one correspondence with the set of natural numbers. Equivalently, a set is ''countable'' if there exists an injective function from it into the natural numbers; this means that each element in the set may be associated to a unique natural number, or that the elements of the set can be counted one at a time, although the counting may never finish due to an infinite number of elements. In more technical terms, assuming the axiom of countable choice, a set is ''countable'' if its cardinality (the number of elements of the set) is not greater than that of the natural numbers. A countable set that is not finite is said to be countably infinite. The concept is attributed to Georg Cantor, who proved the existence of uncountable sets, that is, sets that are not countable; for example the set of the real numbers. A note on terminology Although the terms "countable" and "countably infinite" as def ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roland Fraïssé
Roland Fraïssé (; 12 March 1920 – 30 March 2008) was a French mathematical logician. Life Fraïssé received his doctoral degree from the University of Paris in 1953. In his thesis, Fraïssé used the back-and-forth method to determine whether two model-theoretic structures were elementarily equivalent. This method of determining elementary equivalence was later formulated as the Ehrenfeucht–Fraïssé game. Fraïssé worked primarily in relation theory. Another of his important works was the Fraïssé construction of a Fraïssé limit of finite structures. He also formulated Fraïssé's conjecture on order embeddings, and introduced the notion of compensor in the theory of posets.Petits posets : dénombrement, représentabilité par cercles et compenseurs, Roland Fraïssé and Nik Lygeros, ''Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences'', Série I 313 (1991), no. 7, 417–420 Most of his career was spent as Professor at the University of Provence in Marseille ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Laver
Richard Joseph Laver (October 20, 1942 – September 19, 2012) was an American mathematician, working in set theory. Biography Laver received his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley in 1969, under the supervision of Ralph McKenzie, with a thesis on ''Order Types and Well-Quasi-Orderings''. The largest part of his career he spent as Professor and later Emeritus Professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Richard Laver died in Boulder, CO, on September 19, 2012 after a long illness. Research contributions Among Laver's notable achievements some are the following. * Using the theory of better-quasi-orders, introduced by Nash-Williams, (an extension of the notion of well-quasi-ordering), he proved Fraïssé's conjecture (now Laver's theorem): if (''A''0,≤),(''A''1,≤),...,(''A''''i'',≤), are countable ordered sets, then for some ''i''<''j'' (''A''i,≤) isomorphically embeds into (''A''''j'',≤). This also holds if the ordered sets ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scattered Order
In mathematical order theory, a scattered order is a linear order that contains no densely ordered subset with more than one element. A characterization due to Hausdorff states that the class of all scattered orders is the smallest class of linear orders that contains the singleton orders and is closed under well-ordered and reverse well-ordered sums. Laver's theorem (generalizing a conjecture of Roland Fraïssé on countable orders) states that the embedding relation on the class of countable unions of scattered orders is a well-quasi-order.Harzheim, Theorem 6.17, p. 201; The order topology of a scattered order is scattered. The converse implication does not hold, as witnessed by the lexicographic order In mathematics, the lexicographic or lexicographical order (also known as lexical order, or dictionary order) is a generalization of the alphabetical order of the dictionaries to sequences of ordered symbols or, more generally, of elements of a ... on \mathbb Q\times\ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reverse Mathematics
Reverse mathematics is a program in mathematical logic that seeks to determine which axioms are required to prove theorems of mathematics. Its defining method can briefly be described as "going backwards from the theorems to the axioms", in contrast to the ordinary mathematical practice of deriving theorems from axioms. It can be conceptualized as sculpting out necessary conditions from sufficient ones. The reverse mathematics program was foreshadowed by results in set theory such as the classical theorem that the axiom of choice and Zorn's lemma are equivalent over ZF set theory. The goal of reverse mathematics, however, is to study possible axioms of ordinary theorems of mathematics rather than possible axioms for set theory. Reverse mathematics is usually carried out using subsystems of second-order arithmetic,Simpson, Stephen G. (2009), Subsystems of second-order arithmetic, Perspectives in Logic (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511581007, ISBN 97 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second-order Arithmetic
In mathematical logic, second-order arithmetic is a collection of axiomatic systems that formalize the natural numbers and their subsets. It is an alternative to axiomatic set theory as a foundation of mathematics, foundation for much, but not all, of mathematics. A precursor to second-order arithmetic that involves third-order parameters was introduced by David Hilbert and Paul Bernays in their book ''Grundlagen der Mathematik''. The standard axiomatization of second-order arithmetic is denoted by Z2. Second-order arithmetic includes, but is significantly stronger than, its first-order logic, first-order counterpart Peano_axioms#Peano_arithmetic_as_first-order_theory, Peano arithmetic. Unlike Peano arithmetic, second-order arithmetic allows Quantification (logic), quantification over sets of natural numbers as well as numbers themselves. Because real numbers can be represented as (infinite set, infinite) sets of natural numbers in well-known ways, and because second-order arithmet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dushnik–Miller Theorem
In mathematics, the Dushnik–Miller theorem is a result in order theory stating that every countably infinite linear order has a non-identity order embedding into itself. It is named for Ben Dushnik and E. W. Miller, who proved this result in a paper of 1940; in the same paper, they showed that the statement does not always hold for uncountable linear orders, using the axiom of choice to build a suborder of the real line of cardinality continuum with no non-identity order embeddings into itself. In reverse mathematics, the Dushnik–Miller theorem for countable linear orders has the same strength as the arithmetical comprehension axiom (ACA0), one of the "big five" subsystems of second-order arithmetic. This result is closely related to the fact that (as Louise Hay and Joseph Rosenstein proved) there exist computable linear orders with no computable non-identity self-embedding. See also *Cantor's isomorphism theorem *Laver's theorem Laver's theorem, in order theory, states that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
