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Logic and Foundations Commons

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Articles 1 - 13 of 13

Full-Text Articles in Logic and Foundations

Opening The Lantern: The Leiden Declaration, Mark Huber Jul 2026

Opening The Lantern: The Leiden Declaration, Mark Huber

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

The Leiden Declaration on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics provides insight into how mathematicians view their discipline. However, when positioning mathematics against AI, the declaration falls short in recognizing recent advances. This column introduces the reader who might be unfamiliar with these new methods through the formal language Lean and discusses how these new abilities might change the way journals operate.


Riding The Rails Of Reason: A Dialogue On Truth, Logic, And Proof, Surinder Pal Singh Kainth Jul 2026

Riding The Rails Of Reason: A Dialogue On Truth, Logic, And Proof, Surinder Pal Singh Kainth

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

On a quiet train ride, I found myself in conversation with Noor, an inquisitive teenager with sharp questions about truth, logic, and mathematical proof. As we talked, I used the train itself as a metaphor to explain how mathematical proofs provide certainty, far beyond what repetitive verification alone can offer. Our discussion ranged from common misconceptions about the foundations of logic to the need for clear definitions and axioms. We also touched on fundamental ideas such as the challenges posed by the Axiom of Choice and the limitations revealed by Gödel’s incompleteness theorem.


A Dualistic Interpretation Of Mathematical Creation Through Art And Argumentation, Sofia Almpani, Petros Stefaneas, Mihir Chakraborty Jul 2025

A Dualistic Interpretation Of Mathematical Creation Through Art And Argumentation, Sofia Almpani, Petros Stefaneas, Mihir Chakraborty

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Creativity, informal reasoning and dynamic exchange of ideas form the pulsating heart of mathematical creation. In this approach, the concept of a mathematical object surpasses conventional boundaries of formal presentation, as they also encompass the intention to prove, significant creative stages within the proving, and the overall experience of prover's journey, which may involve arguments, debates, discovery insights, aesthetic visualizations, and narrative elements. In this paper we present two conceptual frameworks, namely Argumentation-based Proof-Events Calculus (APEC) and Mathematical RUPAs, in order to provide distinct yet interconnected perspectives on informal thinking, knowledge creation, and proving in mathematics. Following the two perspectives, …


Belonging, Lawrence M. Lesser Jan 2025

Belonging, Lawrence M. Lesser

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

No abstract provided.


The Making Of Mathematics: An Interview With Carlo Cellucci, Marshall Gordon Jan 2025

The Making Of Mathematics: An Interview With Carlo Cellucci, Marshall Gordon

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Carlo Cellucci is professor emeritus of the Sapienza University of Rome, and has written books on logic, mathematics, and philosophy. In the following interview conducted via back-and-forth email correspondence, he discusses his 2022 book, The Making of Mathematics: Heuristic Philosophy of Mathematics [3], which presents a new paradigm for thinking about, doing, and teaching mathematics.


Discordium Mathematica - A Symphony In Aleph Minor, Vijay Fafat Jul 2024

Discordium Mathematica - A Symphony In Aleph Minor, Vijay Fafat

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

How did Mathematics arise? Who created it? Why is it subject to Godel’s Incompleteness Theorems? And what does all this have to do with Coleridge’s poem, “Kubla Khan”, and “The Person from Porlock”? Here is a complete mythology of Mathematics set in an epic poetry format, fusing thoughts and verses from Western religions and Eastern mysticism… Those with immense patience and careful reading shall reap the fruit… (best read on a large screen or in printed form)


Self-Reference And Diagonalisation, Joël A. Doat Feb 2023

Self-Reference And Diagonalisation, Joël A. Doat

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This poem is an exercise on self-reference and diagonalisation in mathematics featuring Turing’s proof of the undecidability of the halting problem, Cantor’s cardinality argument, the Burali-Forti paradox, and Epimenides' liar paradox.


Using Bloom's Taxonomy For Math Outreach Within And Outside The Classroom, Manmohan Kaur Feb 2023

Using Bloom's Taxonomy For Math Outreach Within And Outside The Classroom, Manmohan Kaur

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Not everyone is a great artist, but we don’t often hear, “I dislike art.” Most people are able to appreciate visual arts, music and sports, without necessarily excelling in it themselves. On the other hand, the phrase “I dislike math” is widely prevalent. This is especially ironic in our current society, where mathematics affects our day-to-day activities in essential ways such as e-commerce and e-mail. This paper describes the opportunity to popularize mathematics by focusing on its fun and creative aspects, and illustrates this opportunity through a brief discussion of interdisciplinary topics that expose the beauty, elegance and value of …


The Rubbish Researchers Puzzle, Michael W. Lucht Jul 2018

The Rubbish Researchers Puzzle, Michael W. Lucht

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

The Rubbish Researchers Puzzle is a humorous short story about the Blue-Eyed Islanders Puzzle, cultural insensitivity in logic problems, and the quality of research.


What Makes A Theory Of Infinitesimals Useful? A View By Klein And Fraenkel, Vladimir Kanovei, Karin Katz, Mikhail Katz, Thomas Mormann Jan 2018

What Makes A Theory Of Infinitesimals Useful? A View By Klein And Fraenkel, Vladimir Kanovei, Karin Katz, Mikhail Katz, Thomas Mormann

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Felix Klein and Abraham Fraenkel each formulated a criterion for a theory of infinitesimals to be successful, in terms of the feasibility of implementation of the Mean Value Theorem. We explore the evolution of the idea over the past century, and the role of Abraham Robinson's framework therein.


From Pythagoreans And Weierstrassians To True Infinitesimal Calculus, Mikhail Katz, Luie Polev Feb 2017

From Pythagoreans And Weierstrassians To True Infinitesimal Calculus, Mikhail Katz, Luie Polev

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

In teaching infinitesimal calculus we sought to present basic concepts like continuity and convergence by comparing and contrasting various definitions, rather than presenting “the definition” to the students as a monolithic absolute. We hope that our experiences could be useful to other instructors wishing to follow this method of instruction. A poll run at the conclusion of the course indicates that students tend to favor infinitesimal definitions over epsilon-delta ones.


On The Occasion Of Your Graduation, Robert Dawson Jul 2012

On The Occasion Of Your Graduation, Robert Dawson

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

A letter from an absent supervisor to a doctoral student about to graduate reveals a terrible secret.


Prove It!, Kenny W. Moran Jan 2012

Prove It!, Kenny W. Moran

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

A dialogue between a mathematics professor, Frank, and his daughter, Sarah, a mathematical savant with a powerful mathematical intuition. Sarah's intuition allows her to stumble into some famous theorems from number theory, but her lack of academic mathematical background makes it difficult for her to understand Frank's insistence on the value of proof and formality.