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A statement in formal logic is called undecidable if there is no proof or disproof of the statement in formal logic. A common misconception is that undecidable statements have no truth value, but this statement is not true. For example, many set theorists now believe that the [[continuum hypothesis]] (which is known to be undeciable in ZFC) is actually false.
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A statement in formal [[logic]] is called '''undecidable''' if there is no [[proof]] or [[disproof]] of the statement in formal logic. A common misconception is that undecidable statements have no truth value, but this statement is not true. For example, many set theorists now believe that the [[continuum hypothesis]] (which is known to be undeciable in [[Zermelo-Fraenkel]] set theory) is actually false.
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As a more concrete example, suppose we had a "theory of colored shapes" <math>T</math> where the objects were colored shapes (red triangles, blue squares, etc), and the possible atomic sentences were of the form "shape <math>S</math> is a square." Since we do not have the language to state "shape <math>S</math> is red" then any statement of this form is undecidable in <math>T</math>, though it could be true or false in some larger theory <math>T'</math>.
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As a more concrete example, suppose we had a "theory of colored shapes" <math>T</math> where the objects were colored shapes (red triangles, blue squares, etc), and the possible [[atom]]ic sentences were of the form "shape <math>S</math> is a square." Since we do not have the language to state "shape <math>S</math> is red" then any statement of this form is undecidable in <math>T</math>, though it could be true or false in some larger theory <math>T'</math>.
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==Famous Undecideable Statements==
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* [[Axiom of Choice]]
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* [[Banach-Tarski paradox]]
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* [[Church-Turing thesis]]
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* [[Continuum hypothesis]]
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* Existence of large [[cardinal]]s
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* [[Halting problem]]
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* [[König's lemma]]
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* [[Lefschetz principle]]
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* [[Liar's paradox]]
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* [[Ramsey theory]] involving infinite sets
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* [[Russell's paradox]]
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* [[Zeno's paradox]]
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[[category:logic]]
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