13 questions · 9 almanac · 0 findings

Mathematical Logic and Foundations

Formal systems, proof, and the foundations of mathematics.

Almanac Four Ways to Redraw the Map
  • What did Paul Cohen prove about the continuum hypothesis, and what does it mean for a mathematical statement to be 'independent' of an axiom system?
Almanac Three Careers, Proved in One
  • What architectural idea did Milner's LCF proof-assistant establish that later proof assistants still follow?
Almanac Teaching Logic to Watch Time Pass
  • What is temporal logic, and why did Amir Pnueli think it was suited to describing computer programs?
  • How does temporal logic let you express properties like 'the system will eventually respond' with mathematical precision?
Almanac A Proof Is Secretly a Program
  • What is the Curry-Howard correspondence, and what does it say about the relationship between logical proofs and computer programs?
  • Why is the Curry-Howard correspondence described as an isomorphism rather than just an analogy?
  • How do modern proof assistants like Coq and Lean rely on the Curry-Howard correspondence to verify mathematical proofs?
  • Why did Howard's 1969 note take over a decade to reach publication, and how did it influence programming language theory?