On an alternative definition of addition, $S(a)\ +'\ S(b) = S(a\ +'\ (b\ +'\ 1))$, assuming the first nine Peano axioms.

86 Views Asked by At

Full disclaimer: I have edited the question to make it simpler, and therefore some of the comments may no longer make much sense.

Assume we have defined the set $\mathbb{N}$ using the first nine Peano axioms. For brevity, $1$ is defined as $S(0),\ 2\ $ is defined as $S(1),\ $ etc.

Define the function, $+': (\mathbb{N}\cup\{0\}) \times (\mathbb{N}\cup\{0\})\to (\mathbb{N}\cup\{0\}) $ recursively by:

  • $0\ +'\ a=a\qquad (1)$
  • $S(a)\ +'\ S(b) = S(a\ +'(\ b\ +'\ 1)\ )\qquad (2)$

So for example,

$1\ +'\ 1\ \overset{def}{=}\ S(0)\ +'\ S(0) \overset{(2)}{=}\ S( 0\ +'\ (0\ +'\ 1)\ ) \overset{(1)}{=}\ S(0\ +'\ 1) \overset{(1)}{=}\ S(1) \overset{def}{=} 2. $

And I believe we can prove all other additions match our expectations using similar reasoning.

Edit: I don't see how we show that $\ 1\ +'\ 0 = 1.$

I think this is an alternative way of defining addition.

Is this correct? Does my definition of addition give us the expected results and therefore also match wikipedia's definition?

1

There are 1 best solutions below

6
On

Given the two axioms in the question, we can deduce that $a\ +'\ b = a+b\ $ for all $a$ and all $b\geq 1.$

However, I don't see a reason why $1\ +'\ 0$ cannot equal any natural number (or zero).

Same for $a\ +'\ 0$ for any $a:\ $ it can be equal to any natural number and this doesn't lead to contradictions, e.g. by the pigeonhole principle.

Obviously there are many ways a third axiom would give us $a\ +'\ 0 = a\quad \forall a,\ $ for example associativity:

$ a\ +'\ (b\ +'\ c) = (a\ +'\ b)\ +'\ c\quad \forall\ a,b,c $

This would work because, for example:

$S(1)\ +'\ S(0) = S(1\ +'\ (0\ +'\ 1)) = S(2) = S((1\ +'\ 0)\ +'\ 1)\implies\ 1\ +'\ 0 = 1,\ $ because $+': (\mathbb{N}\cup\{0\}) \times (\mathbb{N}\cup\{0\})\to (\mathbb{N}\cup\{0\}) $ is a function and the only value of $k$ for which $k\ +'\ 1 = 2\ $ is $\ k=1.$

Commutativity is an alternative third axiom that would make the usual addition work for all $a,b$ because along with axiom $(1)$ we would have: $a\ +'\ 0=0\quad \forall a.$