[Math] peano arithmetic – addition associativity

elementary-set-theorylogicpeano-axioms

In studying Peano Arithmetic, there was an example that I'm having trouble seeing how the induction axiom works.

The example I was looking at was to show that PA proves the associative law for addition, that is $\forall x \forall y \forall z((x+y)+z = x+(y+z))$. Here's the solution given by my textbook

Most of the solution made sense, but I have a few questions regarding it's overall structure:

  1. The solution refers to $Ind(A(z))$ twice. Is it implied that its known what the induction axiom does to $A(z)$? To improve on this solution, is there a way to expand on the $Ind(A(z))$ to make it clear on what the axiom is doing to $A(z)$ in the solution?

  2. Comparing to this method for proving the associative law for +, what are the main differences between the PA proof and this one? The main difference I see is that the induction axiom plays a role in proving using PA but is there something else I'm missing?

  3. I was told that the solution does not need to be fully in PA, but it can be shown that the solution can be given in PA. Does the solution fufill this requirement?

Thanks for reading and helping!

Best Answer

Ind(A(z)) is literally just the statement of mathematical induction, in the special case of the predicate A.

The two proofs you listed are the same proof, except that the chains of equalities are depicted in the reverse order.

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