How to use Internal Set Theory to prove Nelson's axioms in "Radically Elementary Probability Theory"

154 Views Asked by At

I'm currently reading through Nelson's "Radically Elementary Probability Theory". I don't believe Nelson gives a construction in that book, but Herzberg makes the claim that the axioms form a subsystem of IST.

Here's the question: how exactly do the axioms of IST imply the axioms used in REPT?

In particular, I'm struggling to prove the sequence principle and external induction. I'm currently working through Nelson's 1977 paper on Internal Set Theory, but it's unclear to me whether the results proved there actually specialize to the axioms in REPT.

2

There are 2 best solutions below

12
On

Welcome to Math.SE!

I'm not sure how the sequence principle goes and I don't have the means to check it right now, so answering that will have to wait (if somebody else gets here first, don't wait for me, go for it!). But you can prove external induction as follows:

Take a formula $\varphi$ in the language of Internal Set Theory (possibly with non-standard parameters). Assume that $\forall^{s} n. \varphi(n) \rightarrow \varphi(n+1)$ holds. Our goal then is to show that $\varphi(y)$ holds for all standard $y \in \mathbb{N}$.

First, use the axiom of Standardization to construct a set $P=\{x \in \mathbb{N} \mid \varphi(x)\}^{S}$ whose standard elements all satisfy $\varphi(x)$. We know from the axiom that this particular $P$ is a standard set.

Notice that for any standard $x$, we have $\varphi(x) \leftrightarrow x \in P$, and consequently $0 \in P$ and $\forall^{s} x. x \in P \rightarrow x + 1 \in P$ hold. Since $P$ is standard, Transfer applies to the latter and gives $\forall x. x \in P \rightarrow x+1 \in P$. But we know (from ordinary set theory) that there is only one subset of $\mathbb{N}$ which contains $0$ and is closed under successor: $\mathbb{N}$ itself. Consequently, $P = \mathbb{N}$. The desired conclusion, $\forall^{s} y. \varphi(y)$ follows immediately by noting that all numbers belong to $P$, and if $y \in P$ and $y$ is standard, then $y \in P \leftrightarrow \varphi(y)$.

8
On

Nelson's sequence principle or Axiom 5 (page 14 of REPT) is the axiom CC of of the theory SCOT, namely the following.

Let $\phi (u,v)$ be an st-$\in$-formula with arbitrary parameters. Then $$ \forall^{st} n \in \mathbb N\; \exists x\; \phi(n,x) \;\longrightarrow\; \exists f\, (f \text{is a function} \,\wedge\, \forall^{st} n \in \mathbb N\; \phi(n, f(n)). $$

This cannot be added conservatively over ZF but it can be added conservatively over ZF+ADC where ADC is the axiom of dependent choice; see page 373 in

Hrbacek, K.; Katz, M. "Effective infinitesimals in ℝ." Real Analysis Exchange 48 (2023), no. 2, 365-380.