logic, languages, information and computability
Set theorist and mathematical philosopher Gregory Chaitin, inspired by
the recent appearance of three popular books on the Riemann hypothesis,
discusses the possibility that it might in some sense be appropriate to consider it as an axiom.
"The traditional view held by most mathematicians is that... the RH cannot be taken as [an] axiom, and cannot require new axioms,
we simply must work much harder to prove them. According to the received view, we're not clever enough, we haven't come up with the right approach yet. This is very much the current concensus. However this majority view completely ignores the incompleteness phenomenon discovered
by Gödel, by Turing, and extendedby my own work on information-theoretic
incompleteness. What if there is no proof?"
"Gödel's result was a major body blow to mathematicians
everywhere. There were so many statements about numbers, and
especially prime numbers, which appeared to be true but we had no
idea how to prove. Goldbach: that every number is the sum of two
prime numbers; Twin Primes: that there are infinitely many primes
differing by 2, such as 17 and 19. Were these going to be statements
that we couldn't prove from the existing axiomatic foundations?
There is no denying that it was an unnerving state of affairs.
Maybe the Riemann Hypothesis was simply unprovable within our
current axiomatic description of what we think we mean by arithmetic.
Many mathematicians consoled themselves with the belief that anything
that is really important should be provable, that it is only tortuous
statements with no valuable mathematical content that will end up
being one of Gödel's unprovable statements.
But Gödel was not so sure. In 1951, he questioned whether
our current axioms were sufficient for many of the problems of number
theory.
"One is faced with an infinite series of axioms which can be
extended further and further, without any end being visible...It is
true that in the mathematics of today the higher levels of this
hierarchy are practically never used...it is not altogether unlikely
that this character of present-day mathematics may have something to
do with its inability to prove certain fundamental theorems, such as,
for example, Riemann's Hypothesis."
from M. du Sautoy, The Music of the
Primes (Fourth Estate, 2003)
A.S. Karpenko,
Lukasiewicz Logics
and Prime Numbers (English translation), Logical Studies 13 (2005) (special issue)
[abstract:] "In this book we investigate functional properties of finite-valued Lukasiewicz logics
Ln+1. The truth-functional approach to the study of Ln+1 allowed
to give a definition of prime numbers in algebraic-logical terms (Finn's theorem). As a result, there
emerged an opportunity to clarify the structure of prime numbers. It turns out that prime numbers can
be represented as rooted trees. We present an algorithm that for every prime number n builds
a rooted tree with natural numbers as nodes and n as a root. Furthermore, we define finite-valued
logics Kn+1 that have tautologies if and only if n is a prime number.
Kn+1 turn out to have the same functional properties as Ln+1
whenever n is a prime number. Thus, Kn+1 is "logic for prime numbers." It
is interesting that a combination of logics for prime numbers helps discover a law of generation of
classes of prime numbers. Lastly, along with categorization of prime numbers we also give characterization,
in terms Lukasiewicz's logical matrices, of powers of primes, odd numbers, and even numbers, the last of
which is of particular interest.
In algebraic terms, we investigate the clones of finite MV-chains."
A.S. Karpenko,
Lukasiewicz's
Logic and Prime Numbers (introduction and contents of Russian language book), Logical
Studies 9 (2002)
[abstract:] "For the first time in the world literature this monograph shows a direct
relation between logic and prime numbers. Although many-valued Lukasiewicz's logics are the
result of refutation of Aristotle's fatalistic argument their functional properties have a
theoretically-numeric nature. Consideration of this fact allowed to give the definition of
prime number in logical terms. So real possibility to clarify a structure of prime numbers
appeared. Consequently, prime numbers can be presented in the form of rooted trees. A
combination of different logical definitions of prime number leads to the construction of
algorithm for creation of classes of prime numbers. Computer programs for the algorithm as
well as for the trees are elaborated in this monograph. Also different tableaux of numbers
are published for the first time."
[as of 02/06 the book has been published in English by Luniver Press (UK)]
A.S. Karpenko, "Characterization
of prime numbers by Lukasiewicz's many-valued logics", Bulletin of the Section of Logic 13/2 (1984)
A.S. Karpenko, "Sheffer's stroke for
prime numbers", Bulletin of the Section of Logic 23/3 (1994)
A.S. Karpenko, "Characterization of prime numbers in Lukasiewicz's logical matrix", Studia Logica
S.W. Golomb, "Probability,
information theory, and prime number theory", Discrete
Mathematics 106-107 (1992) 219-229
[abstract:] "For any probability distribution D =
{\alpha(n)} on Z+, we define. . . the
probability in D that a 'random' integer is a multiple of
m; and . . . the probability in D that a 'random'
integer is relatively prime to k. We specialize this general
situation to three important families of distributions . . . Several
basic results and concepts from analytic prime number theory are
revisited from the perspective of these families of probability
distributions, and the Shannon entropy for each of these families is
determined."
K.H. Knuth, "Deriving laws from ordering
relations", In: G.J. Erickson, Y. Zhai (eds.), Bayesian Inference and
Maximum Entropy Methods in Science and Engineering, AIP Conference Proceedings 707
(2003) 204-235.
[abstract:] "The effect of Richard T. Cox's contribution to probability theory was to generalize Boolean implication
among logical statements to degrees of implication, which are manipulated using rules derived from consistency with
Boolean algebra. These rules are known as the sum rule, the product rule and Bayes' Theorem, and the measure
resulting from this generalization is probability. In this paper, I will describe how Cox's technique can be further
generalized to include other algebras and hence other problems in science and mathematics. The result is a
methodology that can be used to generalize an algebra to a calculus by relying on consistency with order theory to
derive the laws of the calculus. My goals are to clear up the mysteries as to why the same basic structure found in
probability theory appears in other contexts, to better understand the foundations of probability theory, and to extend
these ideas to other areas by developing new mathematics and new physics. The relevance of this methodology will be
demonstrated using examples from probability theory, number theory, geometry, information theory, and quantum
mechanics."
K.H. Knuth, "Lattice duality: The origin of probability
and entropy", Neurocomputing 67 C (2005) 245-274
[author's description:] "This paper shows how a straight-forward generalization of the zeta
function of a distributive lattice gives rise to bi-valuations that
represent degrees of belief in Boolean lattices of assertions and degrees
of relevance in the distributive lattice of questions. The distributive
lattice of questions originates from Richard T. Cox's definition of a
question as the set of all possible answers, which I show is equivalent to
the ordered set of down-sets of assertions. Thus the Boolean lattice of
assertionns is shown to be dual to the distributive lattice of questions
in the sense of Birkhoff's Representation Theorem. A straightforward
correspondence between bi-valuations generalized from the zeta functions
of each lattice give rise to bi-valuations that represent probabilities in
the lattice of assertions and bi-valuations that represent entropies and
higher-order informations in the lattice of questions."
P. Kumar, P.C. Ivanov, H.E. Stanley, "Information entropy
and correlations in prime numbers"
[abstract:] "The difference between two consecutive prime numbers
is called the distance between the primes. We study the statistical
properties of the distances and their increments (the difference
between two consecutive distances) for a sequence comprising the first
5 x 107 prime numbers. We find that the histogram of the
increments follows an exponential distribution with superposed
periodic behavior of period three, similar to previously-reported
period six oscillations for the distances."
Nature
article on this research (24/03/03)
C. Bonanno and M.S. Mega, "Toward a dynamical model for prime numbers"
Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 20 (2004) 107-118
[abstract:] "We show one possible dynamical approach to the study of the distribution of prime numbers. Our
approach is based on two complexity methods, the Computable Information Content and the Entropy Information
Gain, looking for analogies between the prime numbers and intermittency."
The main idea here is that the Manneville map Tz exhibits a phase
transition at z = 2, at which point the mean Algorithmic Information Content
of the associated symbolic dynamics is n/log n. n is a kind of iteration number.
For this to work, the domain of Tz [0,1] must be partitioned as
[0,0.618...] U [0.618...,1] where 1.618... is the golden mean.
The authors attempt to exploit the resemblance to the approximating function in the Prime
Number Theorem, and in some sense model the distribution of primes in dynamical terms,
i.e. relate the prime number series (as a binary string) to the orbits of the Manneville
map T2. Certain refinements of this are then explored.
"We remark that this approach to study prime numbers is similar to the probabilistic
approach introduced by Cramér...that is we assume that the [binary] string [generated
by the sequence of primes]...is one of a family of strings on which there is a probability measure..."
K.K.
Nambiar, "Information-theoretic equivalent of Riemann
Hypothesis"
[abstract:] "Riemann Hypothesis is viewed as a statement about the capaicity of a
communication channel as defined by Shannon."
B. Long, The structure of information (preprint 09/03)
[abstract:] "A formal model of the structure of information is presented in five axioms which define identity,
containment, and joins of infons. Joins are shown to be commutative, associative, provide inverses of infons, and,
potentially, have many identity elements, two of which are multiplicative and additive. Those two types of join are
distributive. The other identity elements are for operators on entwined states. Multiplicative joins correspond to
adding or removing new bits to a system while additive joins correspond to a change of state. The order or size of
an infon is defined. This groundwork is intended to be used to model continuous and discreet information structures
through time, especially in closed systems."
[personal communication regarding number theory content:] "The connection
to prime numbers is this: From five axioms that define
infons in terms of the identity relation and a sort of containment I
define a join operator for joining two infons under containment and show
that infon joins are commutative, associative, etc. and that depending
upon the intersection between the joined infons, joins can be
multiplicative, additive, or in-between (for entwined states.)
Multiplicative joins occur whenever disjoint infons are joined. Because
they are multiplicative, repeated divisions into disjoint parts end at
infons of prime size. This is interesting because, due to the relation
between states and bits, infons are analogous to very small closed state
systems."
J. Shallit, "Number
theory and formal languages" in Emerging Applications of Number Theory, eds. D. Hejhal,
et. al., IMA volumes in Mathematics and its Applications 109
(Springer, 1999)
[abstract:] "I survey some of the connections between formal languages and number theory.
Topics discussed include applications of representation in base k, representation by
sums of Fibonacci numbers, automatic sequences, transcendence in finite characteristic,
automatic real numbers, fixed points of homomorphisms, automaticity, and k-regular
sequences."
P. Enflo, A. Granville, J. Shallit and S. Yu, "On
sparse languages $L$ such that $LL = \Sigma$", Discrete Applied Mathematics 52
(1994) 275-285
[abstract:] "A language $L \in \Sigma^{*}$ is said to be sparse if $L$ contains a
vanishingly small fraction of all possible strings of length $n$ in $\Sigma^{*}$. C. Ponder
asked if there exists a sparse language $L$ such that $LL = \Sigma^{*}$. We answer this
question in the affirmative. Several different constructions are provided, using ideas from
probability theory, fractal geometry, and analytic number theory. We obtain languages that
are optimally sparse, up to a constant factor. Finally, we consider the generalization
$L^{j} = \Sigma^{*}."
C.S. Calude and M. Stay, "Natural
halting probabilities, partial randomness, and zeta functions" (preprint 01/06)
[abstract:] "We introduce the natural halting probability and the natural complexity of a Turing machine
and we relate them to program-size complexity and Chaitin's halting probability. A classification of Turing machines
according to their natural (Omega) halting probabilities is proposed: divergent, convergent and tuatara. We prove the
existence of universal convergent and tuatara machines. Various results on randomness and partial randomness are proved.
For example, we show that the natural halting probability of a universal tuatara machine is c.e. and random. A new type
of partial randomness, asymptotic randomness, is introduced. Finally we show that in contrast to classical (algorithmic)
randomness - which cannot be characterised in terms of plain complexity - various types of partial randomness admit such
characterisations."
B. Poonen, "Undecidability in
number theory", Notices of the AMS 55 (2008)
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