Rosser's trick
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English
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]Introduced by J. Barkley Rosser in 1936.
Proper noun
[edit]- (mathematics) A method for proving Gödel's incompleteness theorems without the assumption that the theory being considered is ω-consistent. While Gödel's original proof uses a sentence that states (informally) "This sentence is not provable", Rosser's trick uses a formula that says "If this sentence is provable, there is a shorter proof of its negation".