How do we mathematically define the meaning of the word “undecidable”?












2












$begingroup$


I need to understand the meaning of this mathematical concept: "undecided/undecidable".



I know what it means in the English dictionary. But, I don't know what it means mathematically.



If You answer this question with possible mathematical examples, it will be very helpful to understand this issue.



Thank you very much!










share|cite|improve this question











$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MU_puzzle for an example of a simple system which has an undecidable statement.
    $endgroup$
    – B. Goddard
    Jan 14 at 22:37










  • $begingroup$
    How will you decide between the various answers? Are they undecidable?
    $endgroup$
    – Michael
    Jan 15 at 0:14










  • $begingroup$
    @Michael Although people did not like the question, they gave various answers. I upvoted all anwers. By the way, I'm undecided now.
    $endgroup$
    – Elementary
    Jan 15 at 9:09










  • $begingroup$
    @Beginner : Sorry, I saw your page only to give my silly comment but I didn't think to upvote. I have upvoted now, I think the various upvoted answers means there was interest so you deserve a few upvotes for the question itself.
    $endgroup$
    – Michael
    Jan 15 at 14:59










  • $begingroup$
    @Michael You're being very friendly. And Thank you very much for upvote..
    $endgroup$
    – Elementary
    Jan 15 at 16:00
















2












$begingroup$


I need to understand the meaning of this mathematical concept: "undecided/undecidable".



I know what it means in the English dictionary. But, I don't know what it means mathematically.



If You answer this question with possible mathematical examples, it will be very helpful to understand this issue.



Thank you very much!










share|cite|improve this question











$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MU_puzzle for an example of a simple system which has an undecidable statement.
    $endgroup$
    – B. Goddard
    Jan 14 at 22:37










  • $begingroup$
    How will you decide between the various answers? Are they undecidable?
    $endgroup$
    – Michael
    Jan 15 at 0:14










  • $begingroup$
    @Michael Although people did not like the question, they gave various answers. I upvoted all anwers. By the way, I'm undecided now.
    $endgroup$
    – Elementary
    Jan 15 at 9:09










  • $begingroup$
    @Beginner : Sorry, I saw your page only to give my silly comment but I didn't think to upvote. I have upvoted now, I think the various upvoted answers means there was interest so you deserve a few upvotes for the question itself.
    $endgroup$
    – Michael
    Jan 15 at 14:59










  • $begingroup$
    @Michael You're being very friendly. And Thank you very much for upvote..
    $endgroup$
    – Elementary
    Jan 15 at 16:00














2












2








2





$begingroup$


I need to understand the meaning of this mathematical concept: "undecided/undecidable".



I know what it means in the English dictionary. But, I don't know what it means mathematically.



If You answer this question with possible mathematical examples, it will be very helpful to understand this issue.



Thank you very much!










share|cite|improve this question











$endgroup$




I need to understand the meaning of this mathematical concept: "undecided/undecidable".



I know what it means in the English dictionary. But, I don't know what it means mathematically.



If You answer this question with possible mathematical examples, it will be very helpful to understand this issue.



Thank you very much!







soft-question math-history






share|cite|improve this question















share|cite|improve this question













share|cite|improve this question




share|cite|improve this question








edited Jan 15 at 15:50









Mauro ALLEGRANZA

66.2k449114




66.2k449114










asked Jan 14 at 22:31









ElementaryElementary

354111




354111












  • $begingroup$
    See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MU_puzzle for an example of a simple system which has an undecidable statement.
    $endgroup$
    – B. Goddard
    Jan 14 at 22:37










  • $begingroup$
    How will you decide between the various answers? Are they undecidable?
    $endgroup$
    – Michael
    Jan 15 at 0:14










  • $begingroup$
    @Michael Although people did not like the question, they gave various answers. I upvoted all anwers. By the way, I'm undecided now.
    $endgroup$
    – Elementary
    Jan 15 at 9:09










  • $begingroup$
    @Beginner : Sorry, I saw your page only to give my silly comment but I didn't think to upvote. I have upvoted now, I think the various upvoted answers means there was interest so you deserve a few upvotes for the question itself.
    $endgroup$
    – Michael
    Jan 15 at 14:59










  • $begingroup$
    @Michael You're being very friendly. And Thank you very much for upvote..
    $endgroup$
    – Elementary
    Jan 15 at 16:00


















  • $begingroup$
    See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MU_puzzle for an example of a simple system which has an undecidable statement.
    $endgroup$
    – B. Goddard
    Jan 14 at 22:37










  • $begingroup$
    How will you decide between the various answers? Are they undecidable?
    $endgroup$
    – Michael
    Jan 15 at 0:14










  • $begingroup$
    @Michael Although people did not like the question, they gave various answers. I upvoted all anwers. By the way, I'm undecided now.
    $endgroup$
    – Elementary
    Jan 15 at 9:09










  • $begingroup$
    @Beginner : Sorry, I saw your page only to give my silly comment but I didn't think to upvote. I have upvoted now, I think the various upvoted answers means there was interest so you deserve a few upvotes for the question itself.
    $endgroup$
    – Michael
    Jan 15 at 14:59










  • $begingroup$
    @Michael You're being very friendly. And Thank you very much for upvote..
    $endgroup$
    – Elementary
    Jan 15 at 16:00
















$begingroup$
See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MU_puzzle for an example of a simple system which has an undecidable statement.
$endgroup$
– B. Goddard
Jan 14 at 22:37




$begingroup$
See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MU_puzzle for an example of a simple system which has an undecidable statement.
$endgroup$
– B. Goddard
Jan 14 at 22:37












$begingroup$
How will you decide between the various answers? Are they undecidable?
$endgroup$
– Michael
Jan 15 at 0:14




$begingroup$
How will you decide between the various answers? Are they undecidable?
$endgroup$
– Michael
Jan 15 at 0:14












$begingroup$
@Michael Although people did not like the question, they gave various answers. I upvoted all anwers. By the way, I'm undecided now.
$endgroup$
– Elementary
Jan 15 at 9:09




$begingroup$
@Michael Although people did not like the question, they gave various answers. I upvoted all anwers. By the way, I'm undecided now.
$endgroup$
– Elementary
Jan 15 at 9:09












$begingroup$
@Beginner : Sorry, I saw your page only to give my silly comment but I didn't think to upvote. I have upvoted now, I think the various upvoted answers means there was interest so you deserve a few upvotes for the question itself.
$endgroup$
– Michael
Jan 15 at 14:59




$begingroup$
@Beginner : Sorry, I saw your page only to give my silly comment but I didn't think to upvote. I have upvoted now, I think the various upvoted answers means there was interest so you deserve a few upvotes for the question itself.
$endgroup$
– Michael
Jan 15 at 14:59












$begingroup$
@Michael You're being very friendly. And Thank you very much for upvote..
$endgroup$
– Elementary
Jan 15 at 16:00




$begingroup$
@Michael You're being very friendly. And Thank you very much for upvote..
$endgroup$
– Elementary
Jan 15 at 16:00










5 Answers
5






active

oldest

votes


















5












$begingroup$

Given a set of axioms, a statement is undecidable if neither it nor its negation follow from the axioms.



Example:
If your only axiom is:
$$
forall z forall x forall y (y=x) vee(y=z)vee (x=z)
$$

(in English, "for any three things, two of them are equal")



then it is undecidable whether



$$
forall x forall y (x=y)
$$

(English, "there is only one thing.")



By contrast, it is decidable (and false) that
$$
exists x exists y exists z (x neq y) wedge (xneq z) wedge (yneq z).
$$

(English, "there exist three distinct things.")






share|cite|improve this answer











$endgroup$





















    2












    $begingroup$

    Saying that a statement is "undecidable" means that there can be no proof, even theoretically, that the true nor can there be a proof that it is false.






    share|cite|improve this answer









    $endgroup$





















      2












      $begingroup$

      If a proposition $p$ can be stated in the language of a theory $T$, we say $p$ is undecidable in $T$ if $T$ contains neither a proof nor a disproof of $p$.






      share|cite|improve this answer









      $endgroup$





















        1












        $begingroup$

        A statement $P$ is undecidable in an theory $T$ if $t cup {P}$ and $t cup {neg P}$ are both consistent. In practice, it's usually used more broadly: $P$ is undecidable in $T$ if $T cup{P}$ and $Tcup{neg P}$ are equiconsistent, becuase Gödel's Second Incompleteness Theorem is annoying that way: specifically, for most systems that we're interested in, we can't prove that the system is consistent (or, more precisely, we can't prove it in that system unless the system is inconsistent). Thus, rather than requiring two systems to be consistent (which we can't prove), we instead require that at least there's no consistency reason to prefer one over the other.






        share|cite|improve this answer









        $endgroup$





















          1












          $begingroup$

          Suppose you have some logical system $S$ equipped with some initial axioms and some process for generating statements from previous statements. Suppose you have a set $T$ of statements such that each statement is either an axiom in $S$, or can be derived from other statements in $T$ using the process given by $S$ for generating statements (note that $T$ is a recursively defined set, in that each statement in $T$ is either an axiom, or a statement that can be derived from axioms, or a statement that can be derived from statements that can be derived from axioms, etc.) A statement is undecidable in $S$ if neither the statement nor its negation is in $T$.



          Note that undecidability is a property of a statement and a logical system. A statement might be decidable in one logical system, but undecidable in another. For example, the Axiom of Choice is undecidable in Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, but is taken as an axiom in ZFC (that is what the C stands for), and thus is decidable in ZFC.






          share|cite|improve this answer









          $endgroup$













            Your Answer





            StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
            return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
            StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
            StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
            });
            });
            }, "mathjax-editing");

            StackExchange.ready(function() {
            var channelOptions = {
            tags: "".split(" "),
            id: "69"
            };
            initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

            StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
            // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
            if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
            StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
            createEditor();
            });
            }
            else {
            createEditor();
            }
            });

            function createEditor() {
            StackExchange.prepareEditor({
            heartbeatType: 'answer',
            autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
            convertImagesToLinks: true,
            noModals: true,
            showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
            reputationToPostImages: 10,
            bindNavPrevention: true,
            postfix: "",
            imageUploader: {
            brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
            contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
            allowUrls: true
            },
            noCode: true, onDemand: true,
            discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
            ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
            });


            }
            });














            draft saved

            draft discarded


















            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3073832%2fhow-do-we-mathematically-define-the-meaning-of-the-word-undecidable%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown

























            5 Answers
            5






            active

            oldest

            votes








            5 Answers
            5






            active

            oldest

            votes









            active

            oldest

            votes






            active

            oldest

            votes









            5












            $begingroup$

            Given a set of axioms, a statement is undecidable if neither it nor its negation follow from the axioms.



            Example:
            If your only axiom is:
            $$
            forall z forall x forall y (y=x) vee(y=z)vee (x=z)
            $$

            (in English, "for any three things, two of them are equal")



            then it is undecidable whether



            $$
            forall x forall y (x=y)
            $$

            (English, "there is only one thing.")



            By contrast, it is decidable (and false) that
            $$
            exists x exists y exists z (x neq y) wedge (xneq z) wedge (yneq z).
            $$

            (English, "there exist three distinct things.")






            share|cite|improve this answer











            $endgroup$


















              5












              $begingroup$

              Given a set of axioms, a statement is undecidable if neither it nor its negation follow from the axioms.



              Example:
              If your only axiom is:
              $$
              forall z forall x forall y (y=x) vee(y=z)vee (x=z)
              $$

              (in English, "for any three things, two of them are equal")



              then it is undecidable whether



              $$
              forall x forall y (x=y)
              $$

              (English, "there is only one thing.")



              By contrast, it is decidable (and false) that
              $$
              exists x exists y exists z (x neq y) wedge (xneq z) wedge (yneq z).
              $$

              (English, "there exist three distinct things.")






              share|cite|improve this answer











              $endgroup$
















                5












                5








                5





                $begingroup$

                Given a set of axioms, a statement is undecidable if neither it nor its negation follow from the axioms.



                Example:
                If your only axiom is:
                $$
                forall z forall x forall y (y=x) vee(y=z)vee (x=z)
                $$

                (in English, "for any three things, two of them are equal")



                then it is undecidable whether



                $$
                forall x forall y (x=y)
                $$

                (English, "there is only one thing.")



                By contrast, it is decidable (and false) that
                $$
                exists x exists y exists z (x neq y) wedge (xneq z) wedge (yneq z).
                $$

                (English, "there exist three distinct things.")






                share|cite|improve this answer











                $endgroup$



                Given a set of axioms, a statement is undecidable if neither it nor its negation follow from the axioms.



                Example:
                If your only axiom is:
                $$
                forall z forall x forall y (y=x) vee(y=z)vee (x=z)
                $$

                (in English, "for any three things, two of them are equal")



                then it is undecidable whether



                $$
                forall x forall y (x=y)
                $$

                (English, "there is only one thing.")



                By contrast, it is decidable (and false) that
                $$
                exists x exists y exists z (x neq y) wedge (xneq z) wedge (yneq z).
                $$

                (English, "there exist three distinct things.")







                share|cite|improve this answer














                share|cite|improve this answer



                share|cite|improve this answer








                edited Jan 18 at 1:42

























                answered Jan 14 at 22:39









                hunterhunter

                15k32540




                15k32540























                    2












                    $begingroup$

                    Saying that a statement is "undecidable" means that there can be no proof, even theoretically, that the true nor can there be a proof that it is false.






                    share|cite|improve this answer









                    $endgroup$


















                      2












                      $begingroup$

                      Saying that a statement is "undecidable" means that there can be no proof, even theoretically, that the true nor can there be a proof that it is false.






                      share|cite|improve this answer









                      $endgroup$
















                        2












                        2








                        2





                        $begingroup$

                        Saying that a statement is "undecidable" means that there can be no proof, even theoretically, that the true nor can there be a proof that it is false.






                        share|cite|improve this answer









                        $endgroup$



                        Saying that a statement is "undecidable" means that there can be no proof, even theoretically, that the true nor can there be a proof that it is false.







                        share|cite|improve this answer












                        share|cite|improve this answer



                        share|cite|improve this answer










                        answered Jan 14 at 22:34









                        user247327user247327

                        11.1k1515




                        11.1k1515























                            2












                            $begingroup$

                            If a proposition $p$ can be stated in the language of a theory $T$, we say $p$ is undecidable in $T$ if $T$ contains neither a proof nor a disproof of $p$.






                            share|cite|improve this answer









                            $endgroup$


















                              2












                              $begingroup$

                              If a proposition $p$ can be stated in the language of a theory $T$, we say $p$ is undecidable in $T$ if $T$ contains neither a proof nor a disproof of $p$.






                              share|cite|improve this answer









                              $endgroup$
















                                2












                                2








                                2





                                $begingroup$

                                If a proposition $p$ can be stated in the language of a theory $T$, we say $p$ is undecidable in $T$ if $T$ contains neither a proof nor a disproof of $p$.






                                share|cite|improve this answer









                                $endgroup$



                                If a proposition $p$ can be stated in the language of a theory $T$, we say $p$ is undecidable in $T$ if $T$ contains neither a proof nor a disproof of $p$.







                                share|cite|improve this answer












                                share|cite|improve this answer



                                share|cite|improve this answer










                                answered Jan 14 at 22:35









                                J.G.J.G.

                                27.1k22843




                                27.1k22843























                                    1












                                    $begingroup$

                                    A statement $P$ is undecidable in an theory $T$ if $t cup {P}$ and $t cup {neg P}$ are both consistent. In practice, it's usually used more broadly: $P$ is undecidable in $T$ if $T cup{P}$ and $Tcup{neg P}$ are equiconsistent, becuase Gödel's Second Incompleteness Theorem is annoying that way: specifically, for most systems that we're interested in, we can't prove that the system is consistent (or, more precisely, we can't prove it in that system unless the system is inconsistent). Thus, rather than requiring two systems to be consistent (which we can't prove), we instead require that at least there's no consistency reason to prefer one over the other.






                                    share|cite|improve this answer









                                    $endgroup$


















                                      1












                                      $begingroup$

                                      A statement $P$ is undecidable in an theory $T$ if $t cup {P}$ and $t cup {neg P}$ are both consistent. In practice, it's usually used more broadly: $P$ is undecidable in $T$ if $T cup{P}$ and $Tcup{neg P}$ are equiconsistent, becuase Gödel's Second Incompleteness Theorem is annoying that way: specifically, for most systems that we're interested in, we can't prove that the system is consistent (or, more precisely, we can't prove it in that system unless the system is inconsistent). Thus, rather than requiring two systems to be consistent (which we can't prove), we instead require that at least there's no consistency reason to prefer one over the other.






                                      share|cite|improve this answer









                                      $endgroup$
















                                        1












                                        1








                                        1





                                        $begingroup$

                                        A statement $P$ is undecidable in an theory $T$ if $t cup {P}$ and $t cup {neg P}$ are both consistent. In practice, it's usually used more broadly: $P$ is undecidable in $T$ if $T cup{P}$ and $Tcup{neg P}$ are equiconsistent, becuase Gödel's Second Incompleteness Theorem is annoying that way: specifically, for most systems that we're interested in, we can't prove that the system is consistent (or, more precisely, we can't prove it in that system unless the system is inconsistent). Thus, rather than requiring two systems to be consistent (which we can't prove), we instead require that at least there's no consistency reason to prefer one over the other.






                                        share|cite|improve this answer









                                        $endgroup$



                                        A statement $P$ is undecidable in an theory $T$ if $t cup {P}$ and $t cup {neg P}$ are both consistent. In practice, it's usually used more broadly: $P$ is undecidable in $T$ if $T cup{P}$ and $Tcup{neg P}$ are equiconsistent, becuase Gödel's Second Incompleteness Theorem is annoying that way: specifically, for most systems that we're interested in, we can't prove that the system is consistent (or, more precisely, we can't prove it in that system unless the system is inconsistent). Thus, rather than requiring two systems to be consistent (which we can't prove), we instead require that at least there's no consistency reason to prefer one over the other.







                                        share|cite|improve this answer












                                        share|cite|improve this answer



                                        share|cite|improve this answer










                                        answered Jan 14 at 22:40









                                        user3482749user3482749

                                        4,266919




                                        4,266919























                                            1












                                            $begingroup$

                                            Suppose you have some logical system $S$ equipped with some initial axioms and some process for generating statements from previous statements. Suppose you have a set $T$ of statements such that each statement is either an axiom in $S$, or can be derived from other statements in $T$ using the process given by $S$ for generating statements (note that $T$ is a recursively defined set, in that each statement in $T$ is either an axiom, or a statement that can be derived from axioms, or a statement that can be derived from statements that can be derived from axioms, etc.) A statement is undecidable in $S$ if neither the statement nor its negation is in $T$.



                                            Note that undecidability is a property of a statement and a logical system. A statement might be decidable in one logical system, but undecidable in another. For example, the Axiom of Choice is undecidable in Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, but is taken as an axiom in ZFC (that is what the C stands for), and thus is decidable in ZFC.






                                            share|cite|improve this answer









                                            $endgroup$


















                                              1












                                              $begingroup$

                                              Suppose you have some logical system $S$ equipped with some initial axioms and some process for generating statements from previous statements. Suppose you have a set $T$ of statements such that each statement is either an axiom in $S$, or can be derived from other statements in $T$ using the process given by $S$ for generating statements (note that $T$ is a recursively defined set, in that each statement in $T$ is either an axiom, or a statement that can be derived from axioms, or a statement that can be derived from statements that can be derived from axioms, etc.) A statement is undecidable in $S$ if neither the statement nor its negation is in $T$.



                                              Note that undecidability is a property of a statement and a logical system. A statement might be decidable in one logical system, but undecidable in another. For example, the Axiom of Choice is undecidable in Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, but is taken as an axiom in ZFC (that is what the C stands for), and thus is decidable in ZFC.






                                              share|cite|improve this answer









                                              $endgroup$
















                                                1












                                                1








                                                1





                                                $begingroup$

                                                Suppose you have some logical system $S$ equipped with some initial axioms and some process for generating statements from previous statements. Suppose you have a set $T$ of statements such that each statement is either an axiom in $S$, or can be derived from other statements in $T$ using the process given by $S$ for generating statements (note that $T$ is a recursively defined set, in that each statement in $T$ is either an axiom, or a statement that can be derived from axioms, or a statement that can be derived from statements that can be derived from axioms, etc.) A statement is undecidable in $S$ if neither the statement nor its negation is in $T$.



                                                Note that undecidability is a property of a statement and a logical system. A statement might be decidable in one logical system, but undecidable in another. For example, the Axiom of Choice is undecidable in Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, but is taken as an axiom in ZFC (that is what the C stands for), and thus is decidable in ZFC.






                                                share|cite|improve this answer









                                                $endgroup$



                                                Suppose you have some logical system $S$ equipped with some initial axioms and some process for generating statements from previous statements. Suppose you have a set $T$ of statements such that each statement is either an axiom in $S$, or can be derived from other statements in $T$ using the process given by $S$ for generating statements (note that $T$ is a recursively defined set, in that each statement in $T$ is either an axiom, or a statement that can be derived from axioms, or a statement that can be derived from statements that can be derived from axioms, etc.) A statement is undecidable in $S$ if neither the statement nor its negation is in $T$.



                                                Note that undecidability is a property of a statement and a logical system. A statement might be decidable in one logical system, but undecidable in another. For example, the Axiom of Choice is undecidable in Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, but is taken as an axiom in ZFC (that is what the C stands for), and thus is decidable in ZFC.







                                                share|cite|improve this answer












                                                share|cite|improve this answer



                                                share|cite|improve this answer










                                                answered Jan 14 at 22:49









                                                AcccumulationAcccumulation

                                                6,9892618




                                                6,9892618






























                                                    draft saved

                                                    draft discarded




















































                                                    Thanks for contributing an answer to Mathematics Stack Exchange!


                                                    • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                                                    But avoid



                                                    • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                                                    • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                                                    Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


                                                    To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                                                    draft saved


                                                    draft discarded














                                                    StackExchange.ready(
                                                    function () {
                                                    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3073832%2fhow-do-we-mathematically-define-the-meaning-of-the-word-undecidable%23new-answer', 'question_page');
                                                    }
                                                    );

                                                    Post as a guest















                                                    Required, but never shown





















































                                                    Required, but never shown














                                                    Required, but never shown












                                                    Required, but never shown







                                                    Required, but never shown

































                                                    Required, but never shown














                                                    Required, but never shown












                                                    Required, but never shown







                                                    Required, but never shown







                                                    Popular posts from this blog

                                                    MongoDB - Not Authorized To Execute Command

                                                    in spring boot 2.1 many test slices are not allowed anymore due to multiple @BootstrapWith

                                                    Npm cannot find a required file even through it is in the searched directory