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In logic a counterexample disproves the generalization, and does so rigorously in the fields of mathematics and philosophy. [1] For example, the fact that "student John Smith is not lazy" is a counterexample to the generalization "students are lazy", and both a counterexample to, and disproof of, the universal quantification "all students are ...
The assumption that if there is a counterexample, there is a minimal counterexample, is based on a well-ordering of some kind. The usual ordering on the natural numbers is clearly possible, by the most usual formulation of mathematical induction; but the scope of the method can include well-ordered induction of any kind.
It was first conjectured in 1939 by Ott-Heinrich Keller, [1] and widely publicized by Shreeram Abhyankar, as an example of a difficult question in algebraic geometry that can be understood using little beyond a knowledge of calculus. The Jacobian conjecture is notorious for the large number of attempted proofs that turned out to contain subtle ...
Models And Counter-Examples (Mace) is a model finder. [1] Most automated theorem provers try to perform a proof by refutation on the clause normal form of the proof problem, by showing that the combination of axioms and negated conjecture can never be simultaneously true, i.e. does not have a model. A model finder such as Mace, on the other ...
For example, the position and the linear momentum in the -direction of a particle are represented by the operators and , respectively (where is the reduced Planck constant). This is the same example except for the constant − i ℏ {\displaystyle -i\hbar } , so again the operators do not commute and the physical meaning is that the position ...
One example is the parallel postulate, which is neither provable nor refutable from the remaining axioms of Euclidean geometry. Mathematicians have shown there are many statements that are neither provable nor disprovable in Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory with the axiom of choice (ZFC), the standard system of set theory in mathematics (assuming ...
In mathematics, the Cantor function is an example of a function that is continuous, but not absolutely continuous. It is a notorious counterexample in analysis, because it challenges naive intuitions about continuity, derivative, and measure. Though it is continuous everywhere and has zero derivative almost everywhere, its value still goes from ...
A counterexample is provided by a cube where one face is replaced by a square pyramid: this elongated square pyramid is convex and the defects at each vertex are each positive. Now consider the same cube where the square pyramid goes into the cube: this is concave, but the defects remain the same and so are all positive.