![Pythagorean Proof (3)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Pythagorean_Proof_%283%29.PNG)
In
mathematics, a theorem is a
statement that has been
proved, or can be proved. The ''proof'' of a theorem is a
logical argument that uses the inference rules of a
deductive system
A formal system is an abstract structure used for inferring theorems from axioms according to a set of rules. These rules, which are used for carrying out the inference of theorems from axioms, are the logical calculus of the formal system.
A for ...
to establish that the theorem is a
logical consequence of the
axioms and previously proved theorems.
In the mainstream of mathematics, the axioms and the inference rules are commonly left implicit, and, in this case, they are almost always those of
Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory
In set theory, Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, named after mathematicians Ernst Zermelo and Abraham Fraenkel, is an axiomatic system that was proposed in the early twentieth century in order to formulate a theory of sets free of paradoxes such ...
with the
axiom of choice
In mathematics, the axiom of choice, or AC, is an axiom of set theory equivalent to the statement that ''a Cartesian product of a collection of non-empty sets is non-empty''. Informally put, the axiom of choice says that given any collection ...
, or of a less powerful theory, such as
Peano arithmetic. A notable exception is
Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem
Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem is a proof by British mathematician Andrew Wiles of a special case of the modularity theorem for elliptic curves. Together with Ribet's theorem, it provides a proof for Fermat's Last Theorem. Both Ferma ...
, which involves the
Grothendieck universe In mathematics, a Grothendieck universe is a set ''U'' with the following properties:
# If ''x'' is an element of ''U'' and if ''y'' is an element of ''x'', then ''y'' is also an element of ''U''. (''U'' is a transitive set.)
# If ''x'' and ''y'' ...
s whose existence requires the addition of a new axiom to the set theory. Generally, an assertion that is explicitly called a theorem is a proved result that is not an immediate consequence of other known theorems. Moreover, many authors qualify as ''theorems'' only the most important results, and use the terms ''lemma'', ''proposition'' and ''corollary'' for less important theorems.
In
mathematical logic
Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory. Research in mathematical logic commonly addresses the mathematical properties of formal ...
, the concepts of theorems and proofs have been
formalized in order to allow mathematical reasoning about them. In this context, statements become
well-formed formula
In mathematical logic, propositional logic and predicate logic, a well-formed formula, abbreviated WFF or wff, often simply formula, is a finite sequence of symbols from a given alphabet that is part of a formal language. A formal language can ...
s of some
formal language
In logic, mathematics, computer science, and linguistics, a formal language consists of words whose letters are taken from an alphabet and are well-formed according to a specific set of rules.
The alphabet of a formal language consists of sy ...
. A
theory
A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be ...
consists of some basis statements called ''axioms'', and some ''deducing rules'' (sometimes included in the axioms). The theorems of the theory are the statements that can be derived from the axioms by using the deducing rules. This formalization led to
proof theory, which allows proving general theorems about theorems and proofs. In particular,
Gödel's incompleteness theorems show that every
consistent
In classical deductive logic, a consistent theory is one that does not lead to a logical contradiction. The lack of contradiction can be defined in either semantic or syntactic terms. The semantic definition states that a theory is consistent ...
theory containing the natural numbers has true statements on natural numbers that are not theorems of the theory (that is they cannot be proved inside the theory).
As the axioms are often abstractions of properties of the
physical world
The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acco ...
, theorems may be considered as expressing some truth, but in contrast to the notion of a
scientific law
Scientific laws or laws of science are statements, based on repeated experiments or observations, that describe or predict a range of natural phenomena. The term ''law'' has diverse usage in many cases (approximate, accurate, broad, or narrow ...
, which is ''
experimental
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...
'', the justification of the truth of a theorem is purely
deductive
Deductive reasoning is the mental process of drawing deductive inferences. An inference is deductively valid if its conclusion follows logically from its premises, i.e. if it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be fals ...
.
Theoremhood and truth
Until the end of the 19th century and the
foundational crisis of mathematics
Foundations of mathematics is the study of the philosophical and logical and/or algorithmic basis of mathematics, or, in a broader sense, the mathematical investigation of what underlies the philosophical theories concerning the nature of mathem ...
, all mathematical theories were built from a few basic properties that were considered as self-evident; for example, the facts that every
natural number
In mathematics, the natural numbers are those numbers used for counting (as in "there are ''six'' coins on the table") and ordering (as in "this is the ''third'' largest city in the country").
Numbers used for counting are called ''cardinal ...
has a successor, and that there is exactly one
line that passes through two given distinct points. These basic properties that were considered as absolutely evident were called
postulate
An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning 'that which is thought worthy or f ...
s or
axioms
An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning 'that which is thought worthy or f ...
; for example
Euclid's postulates. All theorems were proved by using implicitly or explicitly these basic properties, and, because of the evidence of these basic properties, a proved theorem was considered as a definitive truth, unless there was an error in the proof. For example, the sum of the
interior angle
In geometry, an angle of a polygon is formed by two sides of the polygon that share an endpoint. For a simple (non-self-intersecting) polygon, regardless of whether it is convex or non-convex, this angle is called an interior angle (or ) if ...
s of a
triangle
A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC.
In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non- colline ...
equals 180°, and this was considered as an undoubtful fact.
One aspect of the foundational crisis of mathematics was the discovery of
non-Euclidean geometries
In mathematics, non-Euclidean geometry consists of two geometries based on axioms closely related to those that specify Euclidean geometry. As Euclidean geometry lies at the intersection of metric geometry and affine geometry, non-Euclidean ge ...
that do not lead to any contradiction, although, in such geometries, the sum of the angles of a triangle is different from 180°. So, the property ''"the sum of the angles of a triangle equals 180°"'' is either true or false, depending whether Euclid's fifth postulate is assumed or denied. Similarly, the use of "evident" basic properties of
sets leads to the contradiction of
Russel's paradox
In mathematical logic, Russell's paradox (also known as Russell's antinomy) is a Paradoxes of set theory, set-theoretic paradox discovered by the United Kingdom, British philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell in 1901. Russell's paradox sho ...
. This has been resolved by elaborating the rules that are allowed for manipulating sets.
This crisis has been resolved by revisiting the foundations of mathematics to make them more
rigorous
Rigour (British English) or rigor (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) describes a condition of stiffness or strictness. These constraints may be environmentally imposed, su ...
. In these new foundations, a theorem is a
well-formed formula
In mathematical logic, propositional logic and predicate logic, a well-formed formula, abbreviated WFF or wff, often simply formula, is a finite sequence of symbols from a given alphabet that is part of a formal language. A formal language can ...
of a
mathematical theory
A mathematical theory is a mathematical model of a branch of mathematics that is based on a set of axioms. It can also simultaneously be a body of knowledge (e.g., based on known axioms and definitions), and so in this sense can refer to an area ...
that can be proved from the
axioms and
inference rules of the theory. So, the above theorem on the sum of the angles of a triangle becomes: ''Under the axioms and inference rules of
Euclidean geometry
Euclidean geometry is a mathematical system attributed to ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, which he described in his textbook on geometry: the '' Elements''. Euclid's approach consists in assuming a small set of intuitively appealing axioms ...
, the sum of the interior angles of a triangle equals 180°''. Similarly, Russel's paradox disappears because, in an axiomatized set theory, the ''set of all sets'' cannot be expressed with a well-formed formula. More precisely, if the set of all sets can be expressed with a well-formed formula, this implies that the theory is
inconsistent
In classical deductive logic, a consistent theory is one that does not lead to a logical contradiction. The lack of contradiction can be defined in either semantic or syntactic terms. The semantic definition states that a theory is consistent ...
, and every well-formed assertion, as well as its negation, is a theorem.
In this context, the validity of a theorem depends only on the correctness of its proof. It is independent from the truth, or even the significance of the axioms. This does not mean that the significance of the axioms is uninteresting, but only that the validity of a theorem is independent from the significance of the axioms. This independence may be useful by allowing the use of results of some area of mathematics in apparently unrelated areas.
An important consequence of this way of thinking about mathematics is that it allows defining mathematical theories and theorems as
mathematical object
A mathematical object is an abstract concept arising in mathematics.
In the usual language of mathematics, an ''object'' is anything that has been (or could be) formally defined, and with which one may do deductive reasoning and mathematical p ...
s, and to prove theorems about them. Examples are
Gödel's incompleteness theorems. In particular, there are well-formed assertions than can be proved to not be a theorem of the ambient theory, although they can be proved in a wider theory. An example is
Goodstein's theorem
In mathematical logic, Goodstein's theorem is a statement about the natural numbers, proved by Reuben Goodstein in 1944, which states that every ''Goodstein sequence'' eventually terminates at 0. Kirby and Paris showed that it is unprovable in Pe ...
, which can be stated in
Peano arithmetic, but is proved to be not provable in Peano arithmetic. However, it is provable in some more general theories, such as
Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory
In set theory, Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, named after mathematicians Ernst Zermelo and Abraham Fraenkel, is an axiomatic system that was proposed in the early twentieth century in order to formulate a theory of sets free of paradoxes such ...
.
Epistemological considerations
Many mathematical theorems are conditional statements, whose proofs deduce conclusions from conditions known as hypotheses or
premise
A premise or premiss is a true or false statement that helps form the body of an argument, which logically leads to a true or false conclusion. A premise makes a declarative statement about its subject matter which enables a reader to either agre ...
s. In light of the interpretation of proof as justification of truth, the conclusion is often viewed as a
necessary consequence of the hypotheses. Namely, that the conclusion is true in case the hypotheses are true—without any further assumptions. However, the conditional could also be interpreted differently in certain
deductive system
A formal system is an abstract structure used for inferring theorems from axioms according to a set of rules. These rules, which are used for carrying out the inference of theorems from axioms, are the logical calculus of the formal system.
A for ...
s, depending on the meanings assigned to the derivation rules and the conditional symbol (e.g.,
non-classical logic Non-classical logics (and sometimes alternative logics) are formal systems that differ in a significant way from standard logical systems such as propositional and predicate logic. There are several ways in which this is done, including by way of ...
).
Although theorems can be written in a completely symbolic form (e.g., as propositions in
propositional calculus
Propositional calculus is a branch of logic. It is also called propositional logic, statement logic, sentential calculus, sentential logic, or sometimes zeroth-order logic. It deals with propositions (which can be true or false) and relations ...
), they are often expressed informally in a natural language such as English for better readability. The same is true of proofs, which are often expressed as logically organized and clearly worded informal arguments, intended to convince readers of the truth of the statement of the theorem beyond any doubt, and from which a formal symbolic proof can in principle be constructed.
In addition to the better readability, informal arguments are typically easier to check than purely symbolic ones—indeed, many mathematicians would express a preference for a proof that not only demonstrates the validity of a theorem, but also explains in some way ''why'' it is obviously true. In some cases, one might even be able to substantiate a theorem by using a picture as its proof.
Because theorems lie at the core of mathematics, they are also central to its
aesthetics
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...
. Theorems are often described as being "trivial", or "difficult", or "deep", or even "beautiful". These subjective judgments vary not only from person to person, but also with time and culture: for example, as a proof is obtained, simplified or better understood, a theorem that was once difficult may become trivial. On the other hand, a deep theorem may be stated simply, but its proof may involve surprising and subtle connections between disparate areas of mathematics.
Fermat's Last Theorem
In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem (sometimes called Fermat's conjecture, especially in older texts) states that no three positive integers , , and satisfy the equation for any integer value of greater than 2. The cases and have been ...
is a particularly well-known example of such a theorem.
Informal account of theorems
Logically
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...
, many theorems are of the form of an
indicative conditional
In natural languages, an indicative conditional is a conditional sentence such as "If Leona is at home, she isn't in Paris", whose grammatical form restricts it to discussing what could be true. Indicatives are typically defined in opposition to co ...
: ''If A, then B''. Such a theorem does not assert ''B'' — only that ''B'' is a necessary consequence of ''A''. In this case, ''A'' is called the ''hypothesis'' of the theorem ("hypothesis" here means something very different from a
conjecture), and ''B'' the ''conclusion'' of the theorem. The two together (without the proof) are called the ''proposition'' or ''statement'' of the theorem (e.g. "''If A, then B''" is the ''proposition''). Alternatively, ''A'' and ''B'' can be also termed the ''
antecedent'' and the ''
consequent
A consequent is the second half of a hypothetical proposition. In the standard form of such a proposition, it is the part that follows "then". In an implication, if ''P'' implies ''Q'', then ''P'' is called the antecedent and ''Q'' is called ...
'', respectively. The theorem "If ''n'' is an even
natural number
In mathematics, the natural numbers are those numbers used for counting (as in "there are ''six'' coins on the table") and ordering (as in "this is the ''third'' largest city in the country").
Numbers used for counting are called ''cardinal ...
, then ''n''/2 is a natural number" is a typical example in which the hypothesis is "''n'' is an even natural number", and the conclusion is "''n''/2 is also a natural number".
In order for a theorem be proved, it must be in principle expressible as a precise, formal statement. However, theorems are usually expressed in natural language rather than in a completely symbolic form—with the presumption that a formal statement can be derived from the informal one.
It is common in mathematics to choose a number of hypotheses within a given language and declare that the theory consists of all statements provable from these hypotheses. These hypotheses form the foundational basis of the theory and are called
axioms or postulates. The field of mathematics known as
proof theory studies formal languages, axioms and the structure of proofs.
![4CT Non-Counterexample 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/4CT_Non-Counterexample_1.svg)
Some theorems are "
trivial
Trivia is information and data that are considered to be of little value. It can be contrasted with general knowledge and common sense.
Latin Etymology
The ancient Romans used the word ''triviae'' to describe where one road split or forked ...
", in the sense that they follow from definitions, axioms, and other theorems in obvious ways and do not contain any surprising insights. Some, on the other hand, may be called "deep", because their proofs may be long and difficult, involve areas of mathematics superficially distinct from the statement of the theorem itself, or show surprising connections between disparate areas of mathematics. A theorem might be simple to state and yet be deep. An excellent example is
Fermat's Last Theorem
In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem (sometimes called Fermat's conjecture, especially in older texts) states that no three positive integers , , and satisfy the equation for any integer value of greater than 2. The cases and have been ...
,
and there are many other examples of simple yet deep theorems in
number theory
Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) said, "Mat ...
and
combinatorics, among other areas.
Other theorems have a known proof that cannot easily be written down. The most prominent examples are the four color theorem and the
Kepler conjecture
The Kepler conjecture, named after the 17th-century mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler, is a mathematical theorem about sphere packing in three-dimensional Euclidean space. It states that no arrangement of equally sized spheres filling s ...
. Both of these theorems are only known to be true by reducing them to a computational search that is then verified by a computer program. Initially, many mathematicians did not accept this form of proof, but it has become more widely accepted. The mathematician
Doron Zeilberger
Doron Zeilberger (דורון ציילברגר, born 2 July 1950 in Haifa, Israel) is an Israeli mathematician, known for his work in combinatorics.
Education and career
He received his doctorate from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1976, u ...
has even gone so far as to claim that these are possibly the only nontrivial results that mathematicians have ever proved. Many mathematical theorems can be reduced to more straightforward computation, including polynomial identities, trigonometric identities and hypergeometric identities.
Relation with scientific theories
Theorems in mathematics and theories in science are fundamentally different in their
epistemology
Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics.
Epis ...
. A scientific theory cannot be proved; its key attribute is that it is
falsifiable
Falsifiability is a standard of evaluation of scientific theories and hypotheses that was introduced by the philosopher of science Karl Popper in his book ''The Logic of Scientific Discovery'' (1934). He proposed it as the cornerstone of a so ...
, that is, it makes predictions about the natural world that are testable by
experiment
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into Causality, cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome oc ...
s. Any disagreement between prediction and experiment demonstrates the incorrectness of the scientific theory, or at least limits its accuracy or domain of validity. Mathematical theorems, on the other hand, are purely abstract formal statements: the proof of a theorem cannot involve experiments or other empirical evidence in the same way such evidence is used to support scientific theories.
![CollatzFractal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/CollatzFractal.png)
Nonetheless, there is some degree of empiricism and data collection involved in the discovery of mathematical theorems. By establishing a pattern, sometimes with the use of a powerful computer, mathematicians may have an idea of what to prove, and in some cases even a plan for how to set about doing the proof. It is also possible to find a single counter-example and so establish the impossibility of a proof for the proposition as-stated, and possibly suggest restricted forms of the original proposition that might have feasible proofs.
For example, both the
Collatz conjecture
The Collatz conjecture is one of the most famous unsolved problems in mathematics. The conjecture asks whether repeating two simple arithmetic operations will eventually transform every positive integer into 1. It concerns integer sequence, seq ...
and the
Riemann hypothesis are well-known unsolved problems; they have been extensively studied through empirical checks, but remain unproven. The
Collatz conjecture
The Collatz conjecture is one of the most famous unsolved problems in mathematics. The conjecture asks whether repeating two simple arithmetic operations will eventually transform every positive integer into 1. It concerns integer sequence, seq ...
has been verified for start values up to about 2.88 × 10
18. The
Riemann hypothesis has been verified to hold for the first 10 trillion non-trivial zeroes of the
zeta function
In mathematics, a zeta function is (usually) a function analogous to the original example, the Riemann zeta function
: \zeta(s) = \sum_^\infty \frac 1 .
Zeta functions include:
* Airy zeta function, related to the zeros of the Airy function
* ...
. Although most mathematicians can tolerate supposing that the conjecture and the hypothesis are true, neither of these propositions is considered proved.
Such evidence does not constitute proof. For example, the
Mertens conjecture
In mathematics, the Mertens conjecture is the statement that the Mertens function M(n) is bounded by \pm\sqrt. Although now disproven, it had been shown to imply the Riemann hypothesis. It was conjectured by Thomas Joannes Stieltjes, in an 188 ...
is a statement about natural numbers that is now known to be false, but no explicit counterexample (i.e., a natural number ''n'' for which the Mertens function ''M''(''n'') equals or exceeds the square root of ''n'') is known: all numbers less than 10
14 have the Mertens property, and the smallest number that does not have this property is only known to be less than the
exponential
Exponential may refer to any of several mathematical topics related to exponentiation, including:
*Exponential function, also:
**Matrix exponential, the matrix analogue to the above
*Exponential decay, decrease at a rate proportional to value
*Expo ...
of 1.59 × 10
40, which is approximately 10 to the power 4.3 × 10
39. Since the number of particles in the universe is generally considered less than 10 to the power 100 (a
googol), there is no hope to find an explicit counterexample by
exhaustive search
In computer science, brute-force search or exhaustive search, also known as generate and test, is a very general problem-solving technique and algorithmic paradigm that consists of systematically enumerating all possible candidates for the soluti ...
.
The word "theory" also exists in mathematics, to denote a body of mathematical axioms, definitions and theorems, as in, for example,
group theory
In abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as group (mathematics), groups.
The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as ring (mathematics), rings, field ...
(see
mathematical theory
A mathematical theory is a mathematical model of a branch of mathematics that is based on a set of axioms. It can also simultaneously be a body of knowledge (e.g., based on known axioms and definitions), and so in this sense can refer to an area ...
). There are also "theorems" in science, particularly physics, and in engineering, but they often have statements and proofs in which physical assumptions and intuition play an important role; the physical axioms on which such "theorems" are based are themselves falsifiable.
Terminology
A number of different terms for mathematical statements exist; these terms indicate the role statements play in a particular subject. The distinction between different terms is sometimes rather arbitrary, and the usage of some terms has evolved over time.
* An ''
axiom'' or ''postulate'' is a fundamental assumption regarding the object of study, that is accepted without proof. A related concept is that of a ''
definition'', which gives the meaning of a word or a phrase in terms of known concepts. Classical geometry discerns between axioms, which are general statements; and postulates, which are statements about geometrical objects. Historically, axioms were regarded as "
self-evident
In epistemology (theory of knowledge), a self-evident proposition is a proposition that is known to be true by understanding its meaning without proof, and/or by ordinary human reason.
Some epistemologists deny that any proposition can be self- ...
"; today they are merely ''assumed'' to be true.
* A ''
conjecture'' is an unproved statement that is believed to be true. Conjectures are usually made in public, and named after their maker (for example,
Goldbach's conjecture and
Collatz conjecture
The Collatz conjecture is one of the most famous unsolved problems in mathematics. The conjecture asks whether repeating two simple arithmetic operations will eventually transform every positive integer into 1. It concerns integer sequence, seq ...
). The term ''hypothesis'' is also used in this sense (for example,
Riemann hypothesis), which should not be confused with "hypothesis" as the premise of a proof. Other terms are also used on occasion, for example ''problem'' when people are not sure whether the statement should be believed to be true.
Fermat's Last Theorem
In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem (sometimes called Fermat's conjecture, especially in older texts) states that no three positive integers , , and satisfy the equation for any integer value of greater than 2. The cases and have been ...
was historically called a theorem, although, for centuries, it was only a conjecture.
* A ''theorem'' is a statement that has been proven to be true based on axioms and other theorems.
* A ''
proposition
In logic and linguistics, a proposition is the meaning of a declarative sentence. In philosophy, " meaning" is understood to be a non-linguistic entity which is shared by all sentences with the same meaning. Equivalently, a proposition is the no ...
'' is a theorem of lesser importance, or one that is considered so elementary or immediately obvious, that it may be stated without proof. This should not be confused with "proposition" as used in
propositional logic
Propositional calculus is a branch of logic. It is also called propositional logic, statement logic, sentential calculus, sentential logic, or sometimes zeroth-order logic. It deals with propositions (which can be true or false) and relations b ...
. In classical geometry the term "proposition" was used differently: in
Euclid
Euclid (; grc-gre, Εὐκλείδης; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of ...
's
''Elements'' (), all theorems and geometric constructions were called "propositions" regardless of their importance.
* A ''
lemma'' is an "accessory proposition" - a proposition with little applicability outside its use in a particular proof. Over time a lemma may gain in importance and be considered a ''theorem'', though the term "lemma" is usually kept as part of its name (e.g.
Gauss's lemma,
Zorn's lemma, and
the fundamental lemma).
* A ''
corollary'' is a proposition that follows immediately from another theorem or axiom, with little or no required proof. A corollary may also be a restatement of a theorem in a simpler form, or for a
special case
In logic, especially as applied in mathematics, concept is a special case or specialization of concept precisely if every instance of is also an instance of but not vice versa, or equivalently, if is a generalization of . A limiting case i ...
: for example, the theorem "all internal angles in a
rectangle are
right angles" has a corollary that "all internal angles in a ''
square
In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90- degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length a ...
'' are
right angles" - a square being a special case of a rectangle.
* A ''
generalization
A generalization is a form of abstraction whereby common properties of specific instances are formulated as general concepts or claims. Generalizations posit the existence of a domain or set of elements, as well as one or more common characte ...
'' of a theorem is a theorem with a similar statement but a broader scope, from which the original theorem can be deduced as a
special case
In logic, especially as applied in mathematics, concept is a special case or specialization of concept precisely if every instance of is also an instance of but not vice versa, or equivalently, if is a generalization of . A limiting case i ...
(a ''corollary'').
Other terms may also be used for historical or customary reasons, for example:
* An ''
identity
Identity may refer to:
* Identity document
* Identity (philosophy)
* Identity (social science)
* Identity (mathematics)
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film
* ''Identity'' (2003 film), ...
'' is a theorem stating an equality between two expressions, that holds for any value within its
domain (e.g.
Bézout's identity
In mathematics, Bézout's identity (also called Bézout's lemma), named after Étienne Bézout, is the following theorem:
Here the greatest common divisor of and is taken to be . The integers and are called Bézout coefficients for ; they ...
and
Vandermonde's identity
In combinatorics, Vandermonde's identity (or Vandermonde's convolution) is the following identity for binomial coefficients:
:=\sum_^r
for any nonnegative integers ''r'', ''m'', ''n''. The identity is named after Alexandre-Théophile Vandermo ...
).
* A ''rule'' is a theorem that establishes a useful formula (e.g.
Bayes' rule
In probability theory and statistics, Bayes' theorem (alternatively Bayes' law or Bayes' rule), named after Thomas Bayes, describes the probability of an event, based on prior knowledge of conditions that might be related to the event. For examp ...
and
Cramer's rule).
* A ''
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
'' or ''
principle'' is a theorem with wide applicability (e.g. the
law of large numbers,
law of cosines
In trigonometry, the law of cosines (also known as the cosine formula, cosine rule, or al-Kashi's theorem) relates the lengths of the sides of a triangle to the cosine of one of its angles. Using notation as in Fig. 1, the law of cosines states ...
,
Kolmogorov's zero–one law
In probability theory, Kolmogorov's zero–one law, named in honor of Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov, specifies that a certain type of event, namely a ''tail event of independent σ-algebras'', will either almost surely happen or almost sure ...
,
Harnack's principle
In the mathematical field of partial differential equations, Harnack's principle or Harnack's theorem is a corollary of Harnack's inequality which deals with the convergence of sequences of harmonic functions.
Given a sequence of harmonic functio ...
, the
least-upper-bound principle, and the
pigeonhole principle
In mathematics, the pigeonhole principle states that if items are put into containers, with , then at least one container must contain more than one item. For example, if one has three gloves (and none is ambidextrous/reversible), then there mu ...
).
A few well-known theorems have even more idiosyncratic names, for example, the
division algorithm
A division algorithm is an algorithm which, given two integers N and D, computes their quotient and/or remainder, the result of Euclidean division. Some are applied by hand, while others are employed by digital circuit designs and software.
Div ...
,
Euler's formula
Euler's formula, named after Leonhard Euler, is a mathematical formula in complex analysis that establishes the fundamental relationship between the trigonometric functions and the complex exponential function. Euler's formula states that fo ...
, and the
Banach–Tarski paradox
The Banach–Tarski paradox is a theorem in set-theoretic geometry, which states the following: Given a solid ball in three-dimensional space, there exists a decomposition of the ball into a finite number of disjoint subsets, which can then be p ...
.
Layout
A theorem and its proof are typically laid out as follows:
:''Theorem'' (name of the person who proved it, along with year of discovery or publication of the proof)
:''Statement of theorem (sometimes called the ''proposition'')''
:''Proof''
:''Description of proof''
:''End''
The end of the proof may be signaled by the letters
Q.E.D. (''quod erat demonstrandum'') or by one of the
tombstone marks, such as "□" or "∎", meaning "end of proof", introduced by
Paul Halmos
Paul Richard Halmos ( hu, Halmos Pál; March 3, 1916 – October 2, 2006) was a Hungarian-born American mathematician and statistician who made fundamental advances in the areas of mathematical logic, probability theory, statistics, operator ...
following their use in magazines to mark the end of an article.
The exact style depends on the author or publication. Many publications provide instructions or
macros for typesetting in the
house style.
It is common for a theorem to be preceded by
definitions describing the exact meaning of the terms used in the theorem. It is also common for a theorem to be preceded by a number of propositions or lemmas which are then used in the proof. However, lemmas are sometimes embedded in the proof of a theorem, either with nested proofs, or with their proofs presented after the proof of the theorem.
Corollaries to a theorem are either presented between the theorem and the proof, or directly after the proof. Sometimes, corollaries have proofs of their own that explain why they follow from the theorem.
Lore
It has been estimated that over a quarter of a million theorems are proved every year.
The well-known
aphorism
An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by ...
,
"A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems", is probably due to
Alfréd Rényi, although it is often attributed to Rényi's colleague
Paul Erdős (and Rényi may have been thinking of Erdős), who was famous for the many theorems he produced, the
number
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers c ...
of his collaborations, and his coffee drinking.
The
classification of finite simple groups
In mathematics, the classification of the finite simple groups is a result of group theory stating that every finite simple group is either cyclic, or alternating, or it belongs to a broad infinite class called the groups of Lie type, or else i ...
is regarded by some to be the longest proof of a theorem. It comprises tens of thousands of pages in 500 journal articles by some 100 authors. These papers are together believed to give a complete proof, and several ongoing projects hope to shorten and simplify this proof. Another theorem of this type is the
four color theorem whose computer generated proof is too long for a human to read. It is among the longest known proofs of a theorem whose statement can be easily understood by a layman.
Theorems in logic
In
mathematical logic
Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory. Research in mathematical logic commonly addresses the mathematical properties of formal ...
, a
formal theory is a set of sentences within a
formal language
In logic, mathematics, computer science, and linguistics, a formal language consists of words whose letters are taken from an alphabet and are well-formed according to a specific set of rules.
The alphabet of a formal language consists of sy ...
. A sentence is a
well-formed formula
In mathematical logic, propositional logic and predicate logic, a well-formed formula, abbreviated WFF or wff, often simply formula, is a finite sequence of symbols from a given alphabet that is part of a formal language. A formal language can ...
with no free variables. A sentence that is a member of a theory is one of its theorems, and the theory is the set of its theorems. Usually a theory is understood to be closed under the relation of
logical consequence. Some accounts define a theory to be closed under the
semantic consequence
Logical consequence (also entailment) is a fundamental concept in logic, which describes the relationship between statements that hold true when one statement logically ''follows from'' one or more statements. A valid logical argument is one ...
relation (
), while others define it to be closed under the
syntactic consequence, or derivability relation (
).
[van Dalen, p. 104.]
![Formal languages](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Formal_languages.svg)
For a theory to be closed under a derivability relation, it must be associated with a
deductive system
A formal system is an abstract structure used for inferring theorems from axioms according to a set of rules. These rules, which are used for carrying out the inference of theorems from axioms, are the logical calculus of the formal system.
A for ...
that specifies how the theorems are derived. The deductive system may be stated explicitly, or it may be clear from the context. The closure of the empty set under the relation of logical consequence yields the set that contains just those sentences that are the theorems of the deductive system.
In the broad sense in which the term is used within logic, a theorem does not have to be true, since the theory that contains it may be
unsound relative to a given semantics, or relative to the standard
interpretation of the underlying language. A theory that is
inconsistent
In classical deductive logic, a consistent theory is one that does not lead to a logical contradiction. The lack of contradiction can be defined in either semantic or syntactic terms. The semantic definition states that a theory is consistent ...
has all sentences as theorems.
The definition of theorems as sentences of a formal language is useful within
proof theory, which is a branch of mathematics that studies the structure of formal proofs and the structure of provable formulas. It is also important in
model theory, which is concerned with the relationship between formal theories and structures that are able to provide a semantics for them through
interpretation.
Although theorems may be uninterpreted sentences, in practice mathematicians are more interested in the meanings of the sentences, i.e. in the propositions they express. What makes formal theorems useful and interesting is that they may be interpreted as true propositions and their derivations may be interpreted as a proof of their truth. A theorem whose interpretation is a true statement ''about'' a formal system (as opposed to ''within'' a formal system) is called a ''
metatheorem
In logic, a metatheorem is a statement about a formal system proven in a metalanguage. Unlike theorems proved within a given formal system, a metatheorem is proved within a metatheory, and may reference concepts that are present in the metathe ...
''.
Some important theorems in mathematical logic are:
*
Compactness of first-order logic
*
Completeness of first-order logic
*
Gödel's incompleteness theorems of first-order arithmetic
*
Consistency of first-order arithmetic
*
Tarski's undefinability theorem
Tarski's undefinability theorem, stated and proved by Alfred Tarski in 1933, is an important limitative result in mathematical logic, the foundations of mathematics, and in formal semantics. Informally, the theorem states that ''arithmetical truth ...
*
Church-Turing theorem of undecidability
*
Löb's theorem
In mathematical logic, Löb's theorem states that in Peano arithmetic (PA) (or any formal system including PA), for any formula ''P'', if it is provable in PA that "if ''P'' is provable in PA then ''P'' is true", then ''P'' is provable in PA. If Pr ...
*
Löwenheim–Skolem theorem
*
Lindström's theorem In mathematical logic, Lindström's theorem (named after Swedish logician Per Lindström, who published it in 1969) states that first-order logic is the '' strongest logic'' (satisfying certain conditions, e.g. closure under classical negation) h ...
*
Craig's theorem In mathematical logic, Craig's theorem states that any recursively enumerable set of well-formed formulas of a first-order language is (primitively) recursively axiomatizable. This result is not related to the well-known Craig interpolation theore ...
*
Cut-elimination theorem
The cut-elimination theorem (or Gentzen's ''Hauptsatz'') is the central result establishing the significance of the sequent calculus. It was originally proved by Gerhard Gentzen in his landmark 1934 paper "Investigations in Logical Deduction" for ...
Syntax and semantics
The concept of a formal theorem is fundamentally syntactic, in contrast to the notion of a ''true proposition,'' which introduces
semantics
Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comp ...
. Different deductive systems can yield other interpretations, depending on the presumptions of the derivation rules (i.e.
belief
A belief is an attitude that something is the case, or that some proposition is true. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief" to refer to attitudes about the world which can be either true or false. To believe something is to take ...
,
justification or other
modalities). The
soundness
In logic or, more precisely, deductive reasoning, an argument is sound if it is both valid in form and its premises are true. Soundness also has a related meaning in mathematical logic, wherein logical systems are sound if and only if every formu ...
of a formal system depends on whether or not all of its theorems are also
validities. A validity is a formula that is true under any possible interpretation (for example, in classical propositional logic, validities are
tautologies). A formal system is considered
semantically complete when all of its theorems are also tautologies.
Interpretation of a formal theorem
Theorems and theories
See also
*
List of theorems
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
*
List of theorems called fundamental
In mathematics, a fundamental theorem is a theorem which is considered to be central and conceptually important for some topic. For example, the fundamental theorem of calculus gives the relationship between differential calculus and integral calcu ...
*
Formula
*
Inference
*
Toy theorem
Notes
References
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
Theorem of the Day
{{Authority control
Logical consequence
Logical expressions
Mathematical proofs
Mathematical terminology
Statements
de:Theorem