TheInfoList

Mathematical logic is the study of formal
logic Logic is an interdisciplinary field which studies truth and reasoning. Informal logic seeks to characterize Validity (logic), valid arguments informally, for instance by listing varieties of fallacies. Formal logic represents statements and ar ...

within
mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmetic and number theory), formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities and their changes (cal ...
. Major subareas include
model theory 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 ...
,
proof theory Proof theory is a major branchAccording to Wang (1981), pp. 3–4, proof theory is one of four domains mathematical logic, together with model theory In mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics. Ma ...
,
set theory Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies Set (mathematics), sets, which can be informally described as collections of objects. Although objects of any kind can be collected into a set, set theory, as a branch of mathematics, i ...
, and
recursion theory Computability theory, also known as recursion theory, is a branch of 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 systems of logic such as their expressive or deductive power. However, it can also include uses of logic to characterize correct mathematical reasoning or to establish
foundations of mathematics Foundations of mathematics is the study of the philosophical Philosophy (from , ) is the study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence Existence is the ability of an entity to interact with physical or mental r ...
. Since its inception, mathematical logic has both contributed to, and has been motivated by, the study of foundations of mathematics. This study began in the late 19th century with the development of
axiom An axiom, postulate or assumption is a statement that is taken to be truth, true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Greek ''axíōma'' () 'that which is thought worthy or fit' o ...

atic frameworks for
geometry Geometry (from the grc, γεωμετρία; ' "earth", ' "measurement") is, with , one of the oldest branches of . It is concerned with properties of space that are related with distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mat ...

,
arithmetic Arithmetic (from the Ancient Greek, Greek wikt:en:ἀριθμός#Ancient Greek, ἀριθμός ''arithmos'', 'number' and wikt:en:τική#Ancient Greek, τική wikt:en:τέχνη#Ancient Greek, έχνη ''tiké échne', 'art' or 'cr ...
, and
analysis Analysis is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance Substance may refer to: * Substance (Jainism), a term in Jain ontology to denote the base or owner of attributes * Chemical substance, a material with a definite chemical composit ...

. In the early 20th century it was shaped by
David Hilbert David Hilbert (; ; 23 January 1862 – 14 February 1943) was a German mathematician This is a List of German mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, G ...
's program to prove the consistency of foundational theories. Results of
Kurt Gödel Kurt Friedrich Gödel ( , ; April 28, 1906 – January 14, 1978) was a logician Logic is an interdisciplinary field which studies truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dict ...
,
Gerhard Gentzen Gerhard Karl Erich Gentzen (November 24, 1909 – August 4, 1945) was a German mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such t ...

, and others provided partial resolution to the program, and clarified the issues involved in proving consistency. Work in set theory showed that almost all ordinary mathematics can be formalized in terms of sets, although there are some theorems that cannot be proven in common axiom systems for set theory. Contemporary work in the foundations of mathematics often focuses on establishing which parts of mathematics can be formalized in particular formal systems (as in
reverse mathematics Reverse mathematics is a program 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 com ...
) rather than trying to find theories in which all of mathematics can be developed.

# Subfields and scope

The ''Handbook of Mathematical Logic'' in 1977 makes a rough division of contemporary mathematical logic into four areas: #
set theory Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies Set (mathematics), sets, which can be informally described as collections of objects. Although objects of any kind can be collected into a set, set theory, as a branch of mathematics, i ...
#
model theory 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 ...
#
recursion theory Computability theory, also known as recursion theory, is a branch of mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory. ...
, and #
proof theory Proof theory is a major branchAccording to Wang (1981), pp. 3–4, proof theory is one of four domains mathematical logic, together with model theory In mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics. Ma ...
and
constructive mathematics In the philosophy of mathematics, constructivism asserts that it is necessary to find (or "construct") a mathematical object to prove that it exists. In classical mathematics, one can prove the existence of a mathematical object without "finding ...
(considered as parts of a single area). Each area has a distinct focus, although many techniques and results are shared among multiple areas. The borderlines amongst these fields, and the lines separating mathematical logic and other fields of mathematics, are not always sharp. Gödel's incompleteness theorem marks not only a milestone in recursion theory and proof theory, but has also led to Löb's theorem in modal logic. The method of forcing is employed in set theory, model theory, and recursion theory, as well as in the study of intuitionistic mathematics. The mathematical field of
category theory Category theory formalizes mathematical structure In mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as quantity (number theory), mathematical structure, structure (algebra), space (geometry), and ...
uses many formal axiomatic methods, and includes the study of
categorical logic __NOTOC__ Categorical logic is the branch of mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as quantity (number theory), mathematical structure, structure (algebra), space (geometry), and calculus, chan ...
, but category theory is not ordinarily considered a subfield of mathematical logic. Because of its applicability in diverse fields of mathematics, mathematicians including
Saunders Mac Lane Saunders Mac Lane (4 August 1909 – 14 April 2005) was an American mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers ( and ...
have proposed category theory as a foundational system for mathematics, independent of set theory. These foundations use
topos In mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmetic and number theory), formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities and t ...

es, which resemble generalized models of set theory that may employ classical or nonclassical logic.

# History

Mathematical logic emerged in the mid-19th century as a subfield of mathematics, reflecting the confluence of two traditions: formal philosophical logic and mathematics. "Mathematical logic, also called 'logistic', 'symbolic logic', the ' algebra of logic', and, more recently, simply 'formal logic', is the set of logical theories elaborated in the course of the last ineteenthcentury with the aid of an artificial notation and a rigorously deductive method." Before this emergence, logic was studied with
rhetoric Rhetoric () is the Art (skill), art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic – see Martianus Capella), is one of the Trivium, three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or sp ...
, with ''calculationes'', through the
syllogism A syllogism ( grc-gre, συλλογισμός, ''syllogismos'', 'conclusion, inference') is a kind of logical argument In logic and philosophy, an argument is a series of statements (in a natural language), called the premises or premisses (bo ...
, and with
philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about Metaphysics, existence, reason, Epistemology, knowledge, Ethics, values, Philosophy of mind, mind, and Philosophy of language, language. Such questio ...

. The first half of the 20th century saw an explosion of fundamental results, accompanied by vigorous debate over the foundations of mathematics.

## Early history

Theories of logic were developed in many cultures in history, including
China China (), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC; ), is a country in East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia Asia () is Earth's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the Eastern Hemisphere ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi Hindi (Devanagari: , हिंदी, ISO 15919, ISO: ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: , ISO 15919, ISO: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in Hindi Belt, ...
,
Greece Greece ( el, Ελλάδα, Elláda, ), officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country located in Southeastern Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe () is a geographical subregion A subregion is a part of a larger region In geogr ...
and the
Islamic world The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic Islam (; ar, اَلْإِسْلَامُ, al-’Islām, "submission o God Oh God may refer to: * An exclamation; similar to "oh no", "oh yes", "oh my", "aw goodne ...
. Greek methods, particularly
Aristotelian logic In philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about Metaphysics, existence, reason, Epistemology, knowledge, Ethics, values, Philosophy of mind, mind, and Philosophy of language, languag ...
(or term logic) as found in the ''
Organon The ''Organon'' ( grc, Ὄργανον, meaning "instrument, tool, organ") is the standard collection of Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher A philos ...

'', found wide application and acceptance in Western science and mathematics for millennia. The
Stoics Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophyHellenistic philosophy is the period of Western philosophy Western philosophy refers to the philosophy, philosophical thought and work of the Western world. Historically, the term refers to the ph ...
, especially
Chrysippus Chrysippus of Soli (; grc-gre, Χρύσιππος ὁ Σολεύς, ; ) was a Greek Stoic philosopher A philosopher is someone who practices philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosop ...

, began the development of
predicate logic First-order logic—also known as predicate logic, quantificational logic, and first-order predicate calculus—is a collection of formal systems used in mathematics, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science. First-order logic uses Quantifica ...
. In 18th-century Europe, attempts to treat the operations of formal logic in a symbolic or algebraic way had been made by philosophical mathematicians including
Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz ; see inscription of the engraving depicted in the "#1666–1676, 1666–1676" section. ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist, and diplomat. He is a promin ...

and Lambert, but their labors remained isolated and little known.

## 19th century

In the middle of the nineteenth century,
George Boole George Boole (; 2 November 1815 – 8 December 1864) was a largely self-taught Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning and self-teaching) is education Education is the process of facil ...

and then
Augustus De Morgan Augustus De Morgan (27 June 1806 – 18 March 1871) was a British mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmeti ...

presented systematic mathematical treatments of logic. Their work, building on work by algebraists such as
George Peacock George Peacock FRS (9 April 1791 – 8 November 1858) was an English mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as ...

, extended the traditional Aristotelian doctrine of logic into a sufficient framework for the study of
foundations of mathematics Foundations of mathematics is the study of the philosophical Philosophy (from , ) is the study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence Existence is the ability of an entity to interact with physical or mental r ...
.
Charles Sanders Peirce Charles Sanders Peirce ( ; September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American philosopher, ian, mathematician and scientist who is sometimes known as "the father of ". He was known as a somewhat unusual character. Educated as a chemist an ...

later built upon the work of Boole to develop a logical system for relations and quantifiers, which he published in several papers from 1870 to 1885.
Gottlob Frege Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege (; ; 8 November 1848 – 26 July 1925) was a German philosopher, logician, and mathematician. He worked as a mathematics professor at the University of Jena, and is understood by many to be the father of analy ...
presented an independent development of logic with quantifiers in his ''
Begriffsschrift ''Begriffsschrift'' (German for, roughly, "concept-script") is a book on logic by Gottlob Frege, published in 1879, and the formal system set out in that book. ''Begriffsschrift'' is usually translated as ''concept writing'' or ''concept notatio ...
'', published in 1879, a work generally considered as marking a turning point in the history of logic. Frege's work remained obscure, however, until
Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose know ...
began to promote it near the turn of the century. The two-dimensional notation Frege developed was never widely adopted and is unused in contemporary texts. From 1890 to 1905,
Ernst Schröder Ernst Schröder may refer to: * Ernst Schröder (actor) (1915-1994), German actor * Ernst Schröder (mathematician) (1841-1902), German mathematician {{hndis, Schröder, Ernst ...
published ''Vorlesungen über die Algebra der Logik'' in three volumes. This work summarized and extended the work of Boole, De Morgan, and Peirce, and was a comprehensive reference to symbolic logic as it was understood at the end of the 19th century.

### Foundational theories

Concerns that mathematics had not been built on a proper foundation led to the development of axiomatic systems for fundamental areas of mathematics such as arithmetic, analysis, and geometry. In logic, the term ''arithmetic'' refers to the theory of the
natural number In mathematics, the natural numbers are those numbers used for counting (as in "there are ''six'' coins on the table") and total order, ordering (as in "this is the ''third'' largest city in the country"). In common mathematical terminology, w ...
s.
Giuseppe Peano Giuseppe Peano (; ; 27 August 1858 – 20 April 1932) was an Italian mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as ...

published a set of axioms for arithmetic that came to bear his name (
Peano axioms 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 p ...
), using a variation of the logical system of Boole and Schröder but adding quantifiers. Peano was unaware of Frege's work at the time. Around the same time
Richard Dedekind Julius Wilhelm Richard Dedekind (6 October 1831 – 12 February 1916) was a German mathematician who made important contributions to abstract algebra (particularly ring theory In algebra, ring theory is the study of ring (mathematics), rings ...
showed that the natural numbers are uniquely characterized by their
induction Induction may refer to: Philosophy * Inductive reasoning, in logic, inferences from particular cases to the general case Biology and chemistry * Labor induction (birth/pregnancy) * Induction chemotherapy, in medicine * Induction period, the t ...
properties. Dedekind proposed a different characterization, which lacked the formal logical character of Peano's axioms. Dedekind's work, however, proved theorems inaccessible in Peano's system, including the uniqueness of the set of natural numbers (up to isomorphism) and the recursive definitions of addition and multiplication from the
successor function In mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as quantity (number theory), mathematical structure, structure (algebra), space (geometry), and calculus, change (mathematical analysis, analysis). It ...
and mathematical induction. In the mid-19th century, flaws in Euclid's axioms for geometry became known. In addition to the independence of the
parallel postulate In geometry Geometry (from the grc, γεωμετρία; ' "earth", ' "measurement") is, with , one of the oldest branches of . It is concerned with properties of space that are related with distance, shape, size, and relative position of ...

, established by
Nikolai Lobachevsky Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky ( rus, Никола́й Ива́нович Лобаче́вский, p=nʲikɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ləbɐˈtɕɛfskʲɪj, a=Ru-Nikolai_Ivanovich_Lobachevsky.ogg; – ) was a Russian mathematician and geometer, kno ...
in 1826, mathematicians discovered that certain theorems taken for granted by Euclid were not in fact provable from his axioms. Among these is the theorem that a line contains at least two points, or that circles of the same radius whose centers are separated by that radius must intersect. Hilbert developed a complete set of axioms for geometry, building on by Pasch. The success in axiomatizing geometry motivated Hilbert to seek complete axiomatizations of other areas of mathematics, such as the natural numbers and the
real line In mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmetic and number theory), formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities an ...
. This would prove to be a major area of research in the first half of the 20th century. The 19th century saw great advances in the theory of
real analysis 200px, The first four partial sums of the Fourier series for a square wave. Fourier series are an important tool in real analysis.">square_wave.html" ;"title="Fourier series for a square wave">Fourier series for a square wave. Fourier series are a ...

, including theories of convergence of functions and
Fourier series In mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers ( and ), formulas and related structures (), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (), and quantities and their changes ( and ). There is no gen ...
. Mathematicians such as
Karl Weierstrass Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstrass (german: link=no, Weierstraß ; 31 October 1815 – 19 February 1897) was a German mathematics, mathematician often cited as the "father of modern mathematical analysis, analysis". Despite leaving university withou ...

began to construct functions that stretched intuition, such as nowhere-differentiable continuous functions. Previous conceptions of a function as a rule for computation, or a smooth graph, were no longer adequate. Weierstrass began to advocate the arithmetization of analysis, which sought to axiomatize analysis using properties of the natural numbers. The modern (ε, δ)-definition of limit and
continuous function In mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmetic and number theory), formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities and ...
Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen (formerly ), ; bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city A capital or capital city is the municipality holding primary status in a Department (country subdivision), department, country, Constituent state, ...

in 1817, but remained relatively unknown.
Cauchy Baron Augustin-Louis Cauchy (; ; 21 August 178923 May 1857) was a French mathematician, engineer, and physicist who made pioneering contributions to several branches of mathematics, including mathematical analysis and continuum mechanics. He was ...

in 1821 defined continuity in terms of
infinitesimal In mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmetic and number theory), formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities and ...
s (see Cours d'Analyse, page 34). In 1858, Dedekind proposed a definition of the real numbers in terms of
Dedekind cuts Julius Wilhelm Richard Dedekind (6 October 1831 – 12 February 1916) was a German German(s) may refer to: Common uses * of or related to Germany * Germans, Germanic ethnic group, citizens of Germany or people of German ancestry * For citize ...
of rational numbers, a definition still employed in contemporary texts.
Georg Cantor Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor ( , ;  – January 6, 1918) was a German mathematician. He created set theory, which has become a fundamental theory in mathematics. Cantor established the importance of one-to-one correspondence be ...
developed the fundamental concepts of infinite set theory. His early results developed the theory of
cardinality In mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as quantity (number theory), mathematical structure, structure (algebra), space (geometry), and calculus, change (mathematical analysis, analysis). It ...
and proved that the reals and the natural numbers have different cardinalities. Over the next twenty years, Cantor developed a theory of
transfinite number In mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as quantity (number theory), mathematical structure, structure (algebra), space (geometry), and calculus, change (mathematical analysis, analysis). It h ...
s in a series of publications. In 1891, he published a new proof of the uncountability of the real numbers that introduced the
diagonal argumentDiagonal argument in mathematics may refer to: *Cantor's diagonal argument (the earliest) *Cantor's theorem *Halting problem *Diagonal lemma See also

* Diagonalization (disambiguation) {{mathdab ...
, and used this method to prove
Cantor's theorem In elementary set theory illustrating the intersection (set theory), intersection of two set (mathematics), sets. Set theory is a branch of mathematical logic that studies Set (mathematics), sets, which informally are collections of objects. ...
that no set can have the same cardinality as its
powerset Image:Hasse diagram of powerset of 3.svg, 250px, The elements of the power set of order theory, ordered with respect to Inclusion (set theory), inclusion. In mathematics, the power set (or powerset) of a Set (mathematics), set is the set of al ...

. Cantor believed that every set could be
well-ordered In mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as quantity (number theory), mathematical structure, structure (algebra), space (geometry), and calculus, change (mathematical analysis, analysis). It ...
, but was unable to produce a proof for this result, leaving it as an open problem in 1895.

## 20th century

In the early decades of the 20th century, the main areas of study were set theory and formal logic. The discovery of paradoxes in informal set theory caused some to wonder whether mathematics itself is inconsistent, and to look for proofs of consistency. In 1900,
Hilbert David Hilbert (; ; 23 January 1862 – 14 February 1943) was a German mathematician and one of the most influential mathematicians of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Hilbert discovered and developed a broad range of fundamental ideas in man ...
posed a famous list of 23 problems for the next century. The first two of these were to resolve the
continuum hypothesis In mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmetic and number theory), formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities an ...
and prove the consistency of elementary arithmetic, respectively; the tenth was to produce a method that could decide whether a multivariate polynomial equation over the
integer An integer (from the Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language A classical language is a language A language is a structured system of communication Communication (from Latin ''communicare'', meaning "to share" or "to ...
s has a solution. Subsequent work to resolve these problems shaped the direction of mathematical logic, as did the effort to resolve Hilbert's ''
Entscheidungsproblem In mathematics and computer science, the ' (, German language, German for "decision problem") is a challenge posed by David Hilbert and Wilhelm Ackermann in 1928. The problem asks for an algorithm that considers, as input, a statement and answers ...

'', posed in 1928. This problem asked for a procedure that would decide, given a formalized mathematical statement, whether the statement is true or false.

Ernst Zermelo Ernst Friedrich Ferdinand Zermelo (, ; 27 July 187121 May 1953) was a German logician and mathematician, whose work has major implications for the foundations of mathematics. He is known for his role in developing Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, Zer ...
gave a proof that every set could be well-ordered, a result
Georg Cantor Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor ( , ;  – January 6, 1918) was a German mathematician. He created set theory, which has become a fundamental theory in mathematics. Cantor established the importance of one-to-one correspondence be ...
had been unable to obtain. To achieve the proof, Zermelo introduced 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#Infinite Cartesian products, Cartesian product of a collection of non-empty sets is non-empty''. Informally put, the a ...

, which drew heated debate and research among mathematicians and the pioneers of set theory. The immediate criticism of the method led Zermelo to publish a second exposition of his result, directly addressing criticisms of his proof. This paper led to the general acceptance of the axiom of choice in the mathematics community. Skepticism about the axiom of choice was reinforced by recently discovered paradoxes in
naive set theory Naive set theory is any of several theories of sets used in the discussion of the foundations of mathematics Foundations of mathematics is the study of the philosophical and logical and/or algorithmic basis of mathematics, or, in a broader sens ...
. Cesare Burali-Forti was the first to state a paradox: the
Burali-Forti paradox In set theory illustrating the intersection (set theory), intersection of two set (mathematics), sets. Set theory is a branch of mathematical logic that studies Set (mathematics), sets, which informally are collections of objects. Although any ty ...
shows that the collection of all
ordinal number In set theory Set theory is the branch of that studies , which can be informally described as collections of objects. Although objects of any kind can be collected into a set, set theory, as a branch of , is mostly concerned with those that ...
s cannot form a set. Very soon thereafter,
Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose know ...
discovered
Russell's paradox In the foundations 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 theori ...

in 1901, and Jules Richard discovered Richard's paradox. Zermelo provided the first set of axioms for set theory. These axioms, together with the additional
axiom of replacement In set theory illustrating the intersection (set theory), intersection of two set (mathematics), sets. Set theory is a branch of mathematical logic that studies Set (mathematics), sets, which informally are collections of objects. Although any t ...
proposed by
Abraham Fraenkel Abraham Fraenkel ( he, אברהם הלוי (אדולף) פרנקל; February 17, 1891 – October 15, 1965) was a German-born Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל; ar, إِسْرَائِيل), officially known as the State of Israe ...
, are now called
Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory In set theory illustrating the intersection of two sets Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies sets, which can be informally described as collections of objects. Although objects of any kind can be collected into a set ...
(ZF). Zermelo's axioms incorporated the principle of limitation of size to avoid Russell's paradox. In 1910, the first volume of ''
Principia Mathematica Image:Principia Mathematica 54-43.png, 500px, ✸54.43: "From this proposition it will follow, when arithmetical addition has been defined, that 1 + 1 = 2." – Volume I, 1st editionp. 379(p. 362 in 2nd edition; p. 360 in abridged v ...
'' by Russell and
Alfred North Whitehead Alfred North Whitehead (15 February 1861 – 30 December 1947) was an English mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of ...
was published. This seminal work developed the theory of functions and cardinality in a completely formal framework of
type theory In mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers ( and ), formulas and related structures (), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (), and quantities and their changes ( and ). There is no gene ...
, which Russell and Whitehead developed in an effort to avoid the paradoxes. ''Principia Mathematica'' is considered one of the most influential works of the 20th century, although the framework of type theory did not prove popular as a foundational theory for mathematics. Fraenkel proved that the axiom of choice cannot be proved from the axioms of Zermelo's set theory with urelements. Later work by
Paul Cohen Paul Joseph Cohen (April 2, 1934 – March 23, 2007) was an American mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers ( and ...

showed that the addition of urelements is not needed, and the axiom of choice is unprovable in ZF. Cohen's proof developed the method of forcing, which is now an important tool for establishing independence results in set theory.See also .

### Symbolic logic

Leopold Löwenheim and Thoralf Skolem obtained the Löwenheim–Skolem theorem, which says that first-order logic cannot control the Cardinal number, cardinalities of infinite structures. Skolem realized that this theorem would apply to first-order formalizations of set theory, and that it implies any such formalization has a countable structure (mathematical logic), model. This counterintuitive fact became known as Skolem's paradox. In his doctoral thesis,
Kurt Gödel Kurt Friedrich Gödel ( , ; April 28, 1906 – January 14, 1978) was a logician Logic is an interdisciplinary field which studies truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dict ...
proved the completeness theorem, which establishes a correspondence between syntax and semantics in first-order logic. Gödel used the completeness theorem to prove the compactness theorem, demonstrating the finitary nature of first-order logical consequence. These results helped establish first-order logic as the dominant logic used by mathematicians. In 1931, Gödel published ''On Formally Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematica and Related Systems'', which proved the incompleteness (in a different meaning of the word) of all sufficiently strong, effective first-order theories. This result, known as Gödel's incompleteness theorem, establishes severe limitations on axiomatic foundations for mathematics, striking a strong blow to Hilbert's program. It showed the impossibility of providing a consistency proof of arithmetic within any formal theory of arithmetic. Hilbert, however, did not acknowledge the importance of the incompleteness theorem for some time. Gödel's theorem shows that a consistency proof of any sufficiently strong, effective axiom system cannot be obtained in the system itself, if the system is consistent, nor in any weaker system. This leaves open the possibility of consistency proofs that cannot be formalized within the system they consider. Gentzen proved the consistency of arithmetic using a finitistic system together with a principle of transfinite induction. Gentzen's result introduced the ideas of cut elimination and proof-theoretic ordinals, which became key tools in proof theory. Gödel gave a different consistency proof, which reduces the consistency of classical arithmetic to that of intuitionistic arithmetic in higher types. The first textbook on symbolic logic for the layman was written by Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, in 1896.

### Beginnings of the other branches

Alfred Tarski developed the basics of
model theory 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 ...
. Beginning in 1935, a group of prominent mathematicians collaborated under the pseudonym Nicolas Bourbaki to publish ''Éléments de mathématique'', a series of encyclopedic mathematics texts. These texts, written in an austere and axiomatic style, emphasized rigorous presentation and set-theoretic foundations. Terminology coined by these texts, such as the words bijection, injection, and surjection, ''bijection'', ''injection'', and ''surjection'', and the set-theoretic foundations the texts employed, were widely adopted throughout mathematics. The study of computability came to be known as recursion theory or computability theory, because early formalizations by Gödel and Kleene relied on recursive definitions of functions. When these definitions were shown equivalent to Turing's formalization involving Turing machines, it became clear that a new concept – the computable function – had been discovered, and that this definition was robust enough to admit numerous independent characterizations. In his work on the incompleteness theorems in 1931, Gödel lacked a rigorous concept of an effective formal system; he immediately realized that the new definitions of computability could be used for this purpose, allowing him to state the incompleteness theorems in generality that could only be implied in the original paper. Numerous results in recursion theory were obtained in the 1940s by Stephen Cole Kleene and Emil Leon Post. Kleene introduced the concepts of relative computability, foreshadowed by Turing, and the arithmetical hierarchy. Kleene later generalized recursion theory to higher-order functionals. Kleene and Georg Kreisel studied formal versions of intuitionistic mathematics, particularly in the context of proof theory.

# Formal logical systems

At its core, mathematical logic deals with mathematical concepts expressed using formal logical systems. These systems, though they differ in many details, share the common property of considering only expressions in a fixed formal language. The systems of propositional logic and first-order logic are the most widely studied today, because of their applicability to
foundations of mathematics Foundations of mathematics is the study of the philosophical Philosophy (from , ) is the study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence Existence is the ability of an entity to interact with physical or mental r ...
and because of their desirable proof-theoretic properties. Stronger classical logics such as second-order logic or infinitary logic are also studied, along with Non-classical logics such as intuitionistic logic.

## First-order logic

First-order logic is a particular logical system, formal system of logic. Its syntax involves only finite expressions as well-formed formulas, while its First-order logic#Semantics, semantics are characterized by the limitation of all Quantifiers (logic), quantifiers to a fixed domain of discourse. Early results from formal logic established limitations of first-order logic. The Löwenheim–Skolem theorem (1919) showed that if a set of sentences in a countable first-order language has an infinite model then it has at least one model of each infinite cardinality. This shows that it is impossible for a set of first-order axioms to characterize the natural numbers, the real numbers, or any other infinite structure up to isomorphism. As the goal of early foundational studies was to produce axiomatic theories for all parts of mathematics, this limitation was particularly stark. Gödel's completeness theorem established the equivalence between semantic and syntactic definitions of logical consequence in first-order logic. It shows that if a particular sentence is true in every model that satisfies a particular set of axioms, then there must be a finite deduction of the sentence from the axioms. The compactness theorem first appeared as a lemma in Gödel's proof of the completeness theorem, and it took many years before logicians grasped its significance and began to apply it routinely. It says that a set of sentences has a model if and only if every finite subset has a model, or in other words that an inconsistent set of formulas must have a finite inconsistent subset. The completeness and compactness theorems allow for sophisticated analysis of logical consequence in first-order logic and the development of
model theory 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 ...
, and they are a key reason for the prominence of first-order logic in mathematics. Gödel's incompleteness theorems establish additional limits on first-order axiomatizations. The first incompleteness theorem states that for any consistent, effectively given (defined below) logical system that is capable of interpreting arithmetic, there exists a statement that is true (in the sense that it holds for the natural numbers) but not provable within that logical system (and which indeed may fail in some non-standard model of arithmetic, non-standard models of arithmetic which may be consistent with the logical system). For example, in every logical system capable of expressing the
Peano axioms 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 p ...
, the Gödel sentence holds for the natural numbers but cannot be proved. Here a logical system is said to be effectively given if it is possible to decide, given any formula in the language of the system, whether the formula is an axiom, and one which can express the Peano axioms is called "sufficiently strong." When applied to first-order logic, the first incompleteness theorem implies that any sufficiently strong, consistent, effective first-order theory has models that are not elementary substructure, elementarily equivalent, a stronger limitation than the one established by the Löwenheim–Skolem theorem. The second incompleteness theorem states that no sufficiently strong, consistent, effective axiom system for arithmetic can prove its own consistency, which has been interpreted to show that Hilbert's program cannot be reached.

## Other classical logics

Many logics besides first-order logic are studied. These include infinitary logics, which allow for formulas to provide an infinite amount of information, and higher-order logics, which include a portion of set theory directly in their semantics. The most well studied infinitary logic is $L_$. In this logic, quantifiers may only be nested to finite depths, as in first-order logic, but formulas may have finite or countably infinite conjunctions and disjunctions within them. Thus, for example, it is possible to say that an object is a whole number using a formula of $L_$ such as :$\left(x = 0\right) \lor \left(x = 1\right) \lor \left(x = 2\right) \lor \cdots.$ Higher-order logics allow for quantification not only of elements of the domain of discourse, but subsets of the domain of discourse, sets of such subsets, and other objects of higher type. The semantics are defined so that, rather than having a separate domain for each higher-type quantifier to range over, the quantifiers instead range over all objects of the appropriate type. The logics studied before the development of first-order logic, for example Frege's logic, had similar set-theoretic aspects. Although higher-order logics are more expressive, allowing complete axiomatizations of structures such as the natural numbers, they do not satisfy analogues of the completeness and compactness theorems from first-order logic, and are thus less amenable to proof-theoretic analysis. Another type of logics are s that allow inductive definitions, like one writes for primitive recursive functions. One can formally define an extension of first-order logic — a notion which encompasses all logics in this section because they behave like first-order logic in certain fundamental ways, but does not encompass all logics in general, e.g. it does not encompass intuitionistic, modal or fuzzy logic. Lindström's theorem implies that the only extension of first-order logic satisfying both the compactness theorem and the Löwenheim–Skolem theorem#Downward part, downward Löwenheim–Skolem theorem is first-order logic.

## Nonclassical and modal logic

Modal logics include additional modal operators, such as an operator which states that a particular formula is not only true, but necessarily true. Although modal logic is not often used to axiomatize mathematics, it has been used to study the properties of first-order provability and set-theoretic forcing. Intuitionistic logic was developed by Heyting to study Brouwer's program of intuitionism, in which Brouwer himself avoided formalization. Intuitionistic logic specifically does not include the law of the excluded middle, which states that each sentence is either true or its negation is true. Kleene's work with the proof theory of intuitionistic logic showed that constructive information can be recovered from intuitionistic proofs. For example, any provably total function in intuitionistic arithmetic is computable; this is not true in classical theories of arithmetic such as Peano arithmetic.

## Algebraic logic

Algebraic logic uses the methods of abstract algebra to study the semantics of formal logics. A fundamental example is the use of Boolean algebra (structure), Boolean algebras to represent truth values in classical propositional logic, and the use of Heyting algebras to represent truth values in intuitionistic propositional logic. Stronger logics, such as first-order logic and higher-order logic, are studied using more complicated algebraic structures such as cylindric algebras.

# Set theory

Set theory is the study of Set (mathematics), sets, which are abstract collections of objects. Many of the basic notions, such as ordinal and cardinal numbers, were developed informally by Cantor before formal axiomatizations of set theory were developed. The Zermelo set theory, first such axiomatization, due to Zermelo, was extended slightly to become
Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory In set theory illustrating the intersection of two sets Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies sets, which can be informally described as collections of objects. Although objects of any kind can be collected into a set ...
(ZF), which is now the most widely used foundational theory for mathematics. Other formalizations of set theory have been proposed, including von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel set theory (NBG), Morse–Kelley set theory (MK), and New Foundations (NF). Of these, ZF, NBG, and MK are similar in describing a cumulative hierarchy of sets. New Foundations takes a different approach; it allows objects such as the set of all sets at the cost of restrictions on its set-existence axioms. The system of Kripke–Platek set theory is closely related to generalized recursion theory. Two famous statements in set theory are 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#Infinite Cartesian products, Cartesian product of a collection of non-empty sets is non-empty''. Informally put, the a ...

and the
continuum hypothesis In mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmetic and number theory), formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities an ...
. The axiom of choice, first stated by Zermelo, was proved independent of ZF by Fraenkel, but has come to be widely accepted by mathematicians. It states that given a collection of nonempty sets there is a single set ''C'' that contains exactly one element from each set in the collection. The set ''C'' is said to "choose" one element from each set in the collection. While the ability to make such a choice is considered obvious by some, since each set in the collection is nonempty, the lack of a general, concrete rule by which the choice can be made renders the axiom nonconstructive. Stefan Banach and Alfred Tarski showed that the axiom of choice can be used to decompose a solid ball into a finite number of pieces which can then be rearranged, with no scaling, to make two solid balls of the original size. This theorem, known as the Banach–Tarski paradox, is one of many counterintuitive results of the axiom of choice. The continuum hypothesis, first proposed as a conjecture by Cantor, was listed by
David Hilbert David Hilbert (; ; 23 January 1862 – 14 February 1943) was a German mathematician This is a List of German mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, G ...
as one of his 23 problems in 1900. Gödel showed that the continuum hypothesis cannot be disproven from the axioms of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory (with or without the axiom of choice), by developing the constructible universe of set theory in which the continuum hypothesis must hold. In 1963,
Paul Cohen Paul Joseph Cohen (April 2, 1934 – March 23, 2007) was an American mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers ( and ...

showed that the continuum hypothesis cannot be proven from the axioms of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory. This independence result did not completely settle Hilbert's question, however, as it is possible that new axioms for set theory could resolve the hypothesis. Recent work along these lines has been conducted by W. Hugh Woodin, although its importance is not yet clear. Contemporary research in set theory includes the study of large cardinals and determinacy. Large cardinals are cardinal numbers with particular properties so strong that the existence of such cardinals cannot be proved in ZFC. The existence of the smallest large cardinal typically studied, an inaccessible cardinal, already implies the consistency of ZFC. Despite the fact that large cardinals have extremely high
cardinality In mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as quantity (number theory), mathematical structure, structure (algebra), space (geometry), and calculus, change (mathematical analysis, analysis). It ...
, their existence has many ramifications for the structure of the real line. ''Determinacy'' refers to the possible existence of winning strategies for certain two-player games (the games are said to be ''determined''). The existence of these strategies implies structural properties of the real line and other Polish spaces.

# Model theory

Model theory studies the models of various formal theories. Here a theory (mathematical logic), theory is a set of formulas in a particular formal logic and signature (logic), signature, while a structure (mathematical logic), model is a structure that gives a concrete interpretation of the theory. Model theory is closely related to universal algebra and algebraic geometry, although the methods of model theory focus more on logical considerations than those fields. The set of all models of a particular theory is called an elementary class; classical model theory seeks to determine the properties of models in a particular elementary class, or determine whether certain classes of structures form elementary classes. The method of quantifier elimination can be used to show that definable sets in particular theories cannot be too complicated. Tarski established quantifier elimination for real-closed fields, a result which also shows the theory of the field of real numbers is decidable set, decidable. He also noted that his methods were equally applicable to algebraically closed fields of arbitrary characteristic. A modern subfield developing from this is concerned with o-minimal theory, o-minimal structures. Morley's categoricity theorem, proved by Michael D. Morley, states that if a first-order theory in a countable language is categorical in some uncountable cardinality, i.e. all models of this cardinality are isomorphic, then it is categorical in all uncountable cardinalities. A trivial consequence of the
continuum hypothesis In mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmetic and number theory), formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities an ...
is that a complete theory with less than continuum many nonisomorphic countable models can have only countably many. Vaught conjecture, Vaught's conjecture, named after Robert Lawson Vaught, says that this is true even independently of the continuum hypothesis. Many special cases of this conjecture have been established.

# Recursion theory

Recursion theory, also called computability theory, studies the properties of computable functions and the Turing degrees, which divide the uncomputable functions into sets that have the same level of uncomputability. Recursion theory also includes the study of generalized computability and definability. Recursion theory grew from the work of Rózsa Péter, Alonzo Church and Alan Turing in the 1930s, which was greatly extended by Stephen Cole Kleene, Kleene and Emil Leon Post, Post in the 1940s. Classical recursion theory focuses on the computability of functions from the natural numbers to the natural numbers. The fundamental results establish a robust, canonical class of computable functions with numerous independent, equivalent characterizations using Turing machines, lambda calculus, λ calculus, and other systems. More advanced results concern the structure of the Turing degrees and the lattice (order), lattice of recursively enumerable sets. Generalized recursion theory extends the ideas of recursion theory to computations that are no longer necessarily finite. It includes the study of computability in higher types as well as areas such as hyperarithmetical theory and alpha recursion theory, α-recursion theory. Contemporary research in recursion theory includes the study of applications such as algorithmic randomness, computable model theory, and
reverse mathematics Reverse mathematics is a program 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 com ...
, as well as new results in pure recursion theory.

## Algorithmically unsolvable problems

An important subfield of recursion theory studies algorithmic unsolvability; a decision problem or function problem is algorithmically unsolvable if there is no possible computable algorithm that returns the correct answer for all legal inputs to the problem. The first results about unsolvability, obtained independently by Church and Turing in 1936, showed that the
Entscheidungsproblem In mathematics and computer science, the ' (, German language, German for "decision problem") is a challenge posed by David Hilbert and Wilhelm Ackermann in 1928. The problem asks for an algorithm that considers, as input, a statement and answers ...

is algorithmically unsolvable. Turing proved this by establishing the unsolvability of the halting problem, a result with far-ranging implications in both recursion theory and computer science. There are many known examples of undecidable problems from ordinary mathematics. The word problem for groups was proved algorithmically unsolvable by Pyotr Novikov in 1955 and independently by W. Boone in 1959. The busy beaver problem, developed by Tibor Radó in 1962, is another well-known example. Hilbert's tenth problem asked for an algorithm to determine whether a multivariate polynomial equation with integer coefficients has a solution in the integers. Partial progress was made by Julia Robinson, Martin Davis (mathematician), Martin Davis and Hilary Putnam. The algorithmic unsolvability of the problem was proved by Yuri Matiyasevich in 1970.

# Proof theory and constructive mathematics

Proof theory is the study of formal proofs in various logical deduction systems. These proofs are represented as formal mathematical objects, facilitating their analysis by mathematical techniques. Several deduction systems are commonly considered, including Hilbert-style deduction systems, systems of natural deduction, and the sequent calculus developed by Gentzen. The study of constructive mathematics, in the context of mathematical logic, includes the study of systems in non-classical logic such as intuitionistic logic, as well as the study of Impredicativity, predicative systems. An early proponent of predicativism was Hermann Weyl, who showed it is possible to develop a large part of real analysis using only predicative methods. Because proofs are entirely finitary, whereas truth in a structure is not, it is common for work in constructive mathematics to emphasize provability. The relationship between provability in classical (or nonconstructive) systems and provability in intuitionistic (or constructive, respectively) systems is of particular interest. Results such as the Gödel–Gentzen negative translation show that it is possible to embed (or ''translate'') classical logic into intuitionistic logic, allowing some properties about intuitionistic proofs to be transferred back to classical proofs. Recent developments in proof theory include the study of proof mining by Ulrich Kohlenbach and the study of proof-theoretic ordinals by Michael Rathjen.

# Applications

"Mathematical logic has been successfully applied not only to mathematics and its foundations (Gottlob Frege, G. Frege, Bertrand Russell, B. Russell, David Hilbert, D. Hilbert, Paul Bernays, P. Bernays, Heinrich Scholz, H. Scholz, Rudolf Carnap, R. Carnap, Stanislaw Lesniewski, S. Lesniewski, Thoralf Skolem, T. Skolem), but also to physics (R. Carnap, A. Dittrich, B. Russell, Claude Shannon, C. E. Shannon, Alfred North Whitehead, A. N. Whitehead, Hans Reichenbach, H. Reichenbach, P. Fevrier), to biology (Joseph Henry Woodger, J. H. Woodger, Alfred Tarski, A. Tarski), to psychology (Frederic Fitch, F. B. Fitch, Carl Gustav Hempel, C. G. Hempel), to law and morals (Karl Menger, K. Menger, U. Klug, P. Oppenheim), to economics (John von Neumann, J. Neumann, Oskar Morgenstern, O. Morgenstern), to practical questions (Edmund Berkeley, E. C. Berkeley, E. Stamm), and even to metaphysics (J. [Jan] Salamucha, H. Scholz, Jozef Maria Bochenski, J. M. Bochenski). Its applications to the history of logic have proven extremely fruitful (Jan Lukasiewicz, J. Lukasiewicz, H. Scholz, Benson Mates, B. Mates, A. Becker, Ernest Addison Moody, E. Moody, J. Salamucha, K. Duerr, Z. Jordan, Philotheus Boehner, P. Boehner, J. M. Bochenski, S. [Stanislaw] T. Schayer, Daniel H. H. Ingalls Sr., D. Ingalls)." "Applications have also been made to theology (F. Drewnowski, J. Salamucha, I. Thomas)."

# Connections with computer science

The study of computability theory (computer science), computability theory in computer science is closely related to the study of computability in mathematical logic. There is a difference of emphasis, however. Computer science, Computer scientists often focus on concrete programming languages and feasible computability, while researchers in mathematical logic often focus on computability as a theoretical concept and on noncomputability. The theory of Program semantics, semantics of programming languages is related to
model theory 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 ...
, as is program verification (in particular, model checking). The Curry–Howard correspondence between proofs and programs relates to
proof theory Proof theory is a major branchAccording to Wang (1981), pp. 3–4, proof theory is one of four domains mathematical logic, together with model theory In mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics. Ma ...
, especially intuitionistic logic. Formal calculi such as the lambda calculus and combinatory logic are now studied as idealized programming languages. Computer science also contributes to mathematics by developing techniques for the automatic checking or even finding of proofs, such as automated theorem proving and logic programming. Descriptive complexity theory relates logics to Computational complexity theory, computational complexity. The first significant result in this area, Fagin's theorem (1974) established that NP (complexity), NP is precisely the set of languages expressible by sentences of existential second-order logic.

# Foundations of mathematics

In the 19th century, mathematicians became aware of logical gaps and inconsistencies in their field. It was shown that Euclid's axioms for geometry, which had been taught for centuries as an example of the axiomatic method, were incomplete. The use of
infinitesimal In mathematics Mathematics (from Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as numbers (arithmetic and number theory), formulas and related structures (algebra), shapes and spaces in which they are contained (geometry), and quantities and ...
s, and the very definition of Function (mathematics), function, came into question in analysis, as pathological examples such as Weierstrass' nowhere-Differentiable function, differentiable continuous function were discovered. Cantor's study of arbitrary infinite sets also drew criticism. Leopold Kronecker famously stated "God made the integers; all else is the work of man," endorsing a return to the study of finite, concrete objects in mathematics. Although Kronecker's argument was carried forward by constructivists in the 20th century, the mathematical community as a whole rejected them.
David Hilbert David Hilbert (; ; 23 January 1862 – 14 February 1943) was a German mathematician This is a List of German mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, G ...
argued in favor of the study of the infinite, saying "No one shall expel us from the Paradise that Cantor has created." Mathematicians began to search for axiom systems that could be used to formalize large parts of mathematics. In addition to removing ambiguity from previously naive terms such as function, it was hoped that this axiomatization would allow for consistency proofs. In the 19th century, the main method of proving the consistency of a set of axioms was to provide a model for it. Thus, for example, non-Euclidean geometry can be proved consistent by defining ''point'' to mean a point on a fixed sphere and ''line'' to mean a great circle on the sphere. The resulting structure, a model of elliptic geometry, satisfies the axioms of plane geometry except the parallel postulate. With the development of formal logic, Hilbert asked whether it would be possible to prove that an axiom system is consistent by analyzing the structure of possible proofs in the system, and showing through this analysis that it is impossible to prove a contradiction. This idea led to the study of
proof theory Proof theory is a major branchAccording to Wang (1981), pp. 3–4, proof theory is one of four domains mathematical logic, together with model theory In mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics. Ma ...
. Moreover, Hilbert proposed that the analysis should be entirely concrete, using the term ''finitary'' to refer to the methods he would allow but not precisely defining them. This project, known as Hilbert's program, was seriously affected by Gödel's incompleteness theorems, which show that the consistency of formal theories of arithmetic cannot be established using methods formalizable in those theories. Gentzen showed that it is possible to produce a proof of the consistency of arithmetic in a finitary system augmented with axioms of transfinite induction, and the techniques he developed to do so were seminal in proof theory. A second thread in the history of foundations of mathematics involves nonclassical logics and
constructive mathematics In the philosophy of mathematics, constructivism asserts that it is necessary to find (or "construct") a mathematical object to prove that it exists. In classical mathematics, one can prove the existence of a mathematical object without "finding ...
. The study of constructive mathematics includes many different programs with various definitions of ''constructive''. At the most accommodating end, proofs in ZF set theory that do not use the axiom of choice are called constructive by many mathematicians. More limited versions of constructivism limit themselves to natural numbers, number-theoretic functions, and sets of natural numbers (which can be used to represent real numbers, facilitating the study of mathematical analysis). A common idea is that a concrete means of computing the values of the function must be known before the function itself can be said to exist. In the early 20th century, Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer founded intuitionism as a part of philosophy of mathematics . This philosophy, poorly understood at first, stated that in order for a mathematical statement to be true to a mathematician, that person must be able to ''intuit'' the statement, to not only believe its truth but understand the reason for its truth. A consequence of this definition of truth was the rejection of the law of the excluded middle, for there are statements that, according to Brouwer, could not be claimed to be true while their negations also could not be claimed true. Brouwer's philosophy was influential, and the cause of bitter disputes among prominent mathematicians. Later, Kleene and Kreisel would study formalized versions of intuitionistic logic (Brouwer rejected formalization, and presented his work in unformalized natural language). With the advent of the BHK interpretation and Kripke models, intuitionism became easier to reconcile with classical mathematics.

* Argument * Informal logic * Knowledge representation and reasoning * Logic * List of computability and complexity topics * List of first-order theories * List of logic symbols * List of mathematical logic topics * List of set theory topics * Mereology * Propositional calculus * Well-formed formula

# References

* * * * * * * * * * * * Shawn Hedman, ''A first course in logic: an introduction to model theory, proof theory, computability, and complexity'', Oxford University Press, 2004, . Covers logics in close relation with computability theory and Computational complexity theory, complexity theory *

* * * * *Stephen Cole Kleene, Kleene, Stephen Cole.(1952),
Introduction to Metamathematics.
' New York: Van Nostrand. (Ishi Press: 2009 reprint). *Stephen Cole Kleene, Kleene, Stephen Cole. (1967),
Mathematical Logic.
' John Wiley. Dover reprint, 2002. . * *

## Research papers, monographs, texts, and surveys

* * * * *J.D. Sneed, ''The Logical Structure of Mathematical Physics''. Reidel, Dordrecht, 1971 (revised edition 1979). *
Reprinted as an appendix in * * * * * * * *

## Classical papers, texts, and collections

* * Reprinted in * English translation as: "Consistency and irrational numbers". * Two English translations: **1963 (1901). ''Essays on the Theory of Numbers''. Beman, W. W., ed. and trans. Dover. **1996. In ''From Kant to Hilbert: A Source Book in the Foundations of Mathematics'', 2 vols, Ewald, William B., ed., Oxford University Press: 787–832. * Reprinted in English translation as "The notion of 'definite' and the independence of the axiom of choice" in . * Gottlob Frege, Frege, Gottlob (1879), ''
Begriffsschrift ''Begriffsschrift'' (German for, roughly, "concept-script") is a book on logic by Gottlob Frege, published in 1879, and the formal system set out in that book. ''Begriffsschrift'' is usually translated as ''concept writing'' or ''concept notatio ...
, eine der arithmetischen nachgebildete Formelsprache des reinen Denkens''. Halle a. S.: Louis Nebert. Translation: ''Concept Script, a formal language of pure thought modelled upon that of arithmetic'', by S. Bauer-Mengelberg in . * Gottlob Frege, Frege, Gottlob (1884), ''Die Grundlagen der Arithmetik: eine logisch-mathematische Untersuchung über den Begriff der Zahl''. Breslau: W. Koebner. Translation: J. L. Austin, 1974. ''The Foundations of Arithmetic: A logico-mathematical enquiry into the concept of number'', 2nd ed. Blackwell. * Reprinted in English translation in Gentzen's ''Collected works'', M. E. Szabo, ed., North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1969. * * * * Reprinted in English translation in Gödel's ''Collected Works'', vol II, Solomon Feferman et al., eds. Oxford University Press, 1993. * * English 1902 edition (''The Foundations of Geometry'') republished 1980, Open Court, Chicago. * Lecture given at the International Congress of Mathematicians, 3 September 1928. Published in English translation as "The Grounding of Elementary Number Theory", in Mancosu 1998, pp. 266–273. * * * Reprinted in English translation as * Translated as "On possibilities in the calculus of relatives" in * * * Excerpt reprinted in English translation as "The principles of arithmetic, presented by a new method"in . * Reprinted in English translation as "The principles of mathematics and the problems of sets" in . * * * * * Reprinted in English translation as "Proof that every set can be well-ordered" in . * Reprinted in English translation as "A new proof of the possibility of a well-ordering" in . *

*
Polyvalued logic and Quantity Relation Logic
*
forall x: an introduction to formal logic
', a free textbook by . *
A Problem Course in Mathematical Logic
', a free textbook by Stefan Bilaniuk. * Detlovs, Vilnis, and Podnieks, Karlis (University of Latvia),

' (hyper-textbook). * In the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: *
Classical Logic
by Stewart Shapiro. *
First-order Model Theory
by Wilfrid Hodges. * In th
London Philosophy Study Guide
*

*

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