Peano's postulates

Peano's postulates
The postulates isolated by R. Dedekind (1831–1916) and formulated by the Italian mathematician G. Peano (1858–1932), that define the number series as the series of successors to the number zero. Informally they are: (i) zero is a number; (ii) zero is not the successor of any number; (iii) the successor of any number is a number; (iv) no two numbers have the same successor; and (v) if zero has a property, and if whenever a number has a property its successor has the property, then all numbers have the property. The fifth is the postulate justifying mathematical induction. It ensures that the series is closed, in the sense that nothing but zero and its successors can be numbers.
Any series satisfying such a set of axioms can be conceived as the sequence of natural numbers. Candidates from set theory include the Zermelo numbers, where the empty set is zero, and the successor of each number is its unit set, and the von Neumann numbers, where each number is the set of all smaller numbers.

Philosophy dictionary. . 2011.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Peano's postulates — Math. a collection of axioms concerning the properties of the set of all positive integers, including the principle of mathematical induction. Also called Peano s axioms. Cf. principle of mathematical induction. [named after G. PEANO] * * * …   Universalium

  • Peano's postulates — Math. a collection of axioms concerning the properties of the set of all positive integers, including the principle of mathematical induction. Also called Peano s axioms. Cf. principle of mathematical induction. [named after G. PEANO] …   Useful english dictionary

  • Peano axioms — In mathematical logic, the Peano axioms, also known as the Dedekind Peano axioms or the Peano postulates, are a set of axioms for the natural numbers presented by the 19th century Italian mathematician Giuseppe Peano. These axioms have been used… …   Wikipedia

  • Peano, Giuseppe — ▪ Italian mathematician born Aug. 27, 1858, Cuneo, Kingdom of Sardinia [now in Italy] died April 20, 1932, Turin, Italy       Italian mathematician and a founder of symbolic logic (logic) whose interests centred on the foundations of mathematics… …   Universalium

  • implicit definition — An implicit definition of a term is given when a number of principles or axioms involving it are laid down, none of which give an equation identifying it with another term. Thus number may be said to be implicitly defined by Peano s postulates ;… …   Philosophy dictionary

  • ancestral relation — Intuitively, a relation that stands to another as ‘ancestor of’ stands to ‘parent of’: an ancestor is a parent, or parent of a parent, and so on. The formal definition of the ancestral is due to Frege . Suppose, to simplify, we allow that y is… …   Philosophy dictionary

  • logic, history of — Introduction       the history of the discipline from its origins among the ancient Greeks to the present time. Origins of logic in the West Precursors of ancient logic       There was a medieval tradition according to which the Greek philosopher …   Universalium

  • Axiom — This article is about logical propositions. For other uses, see Axiom (disambiguation). In traditional logic, an axiom or postulate is a proposition that is not proven or demonstrated but considered either to be self evident or to define and… …   Wikipedia

  • Principia Mathematica — For Isaac Newton s book containing basic laws of physics, see Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica. The title page of the shortened version of the Principia Mathematica to *56. The Principia Mathematica is a three volume work on the… …   Wikipedia

  • mathematics, foundations of — Scientific inquiry into the nature of mathematical theories and the scope of mathematical methods. It began with Euclid s Elements as an inquiry into the logical and philosophical basis of mathematics in essence, whether the axioms of any system… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”