[Math] what is a valid mathematical proof

logicproof-theorysoft-question

from what i have seen in my experience with math we can say that

a valid proof is one that uses some form of logic (usually predicate logic) and uses logical rules of deduction and axioms or theorems in it's specific field to drive some new sentences that will eventually lead to the proposition we want to prove .

but we know that most of the proofs given in most of the fields (if not all!) are actually in informal language .

if we accept the definition above then non of these proofs are valid proofs .

how can we extend or change the idea of a valid proof to get to a better definition of a valid mathematical proof ?

Best Answer

What you defined could be called a valid formal proof.

A valid mathematical proof (or a proof accepted by the mathematical community) on the other hand might be described as an informal(!) arrangement of arguments that the reader finds convincing in the sense that he/she strongly believes that it is possible to write down a valid formal proof reflecting the given arguments.

Some clarifying remarks:

  • "A computer program tested all even integers from $4$ up to $10^{100}$ and verified that each of them can be written as sum of two primes" - This is not convincing enough to be a mathematical proof. It may be convincing enough to accept that the claim is correct for evens up to $10^{100}$ insofar as the computational steps of the program (once verified to be algorithmically correct) could be translated into a formal proof. But there is no hitn as to how the argument might be converted to a general formal proof (by induction, say)

  • A lengthy sequence of statements without explanation or comment and the mere claim that each line somehow follows from some of the preceeding lines (i.e., a formal proof) may not be lightheartedly accepted as mathematical proof. Indeed, the very lack of motivation and comment and helpful hints makes such a beast suspicious: One would really have to verify every single line and check that there are some preceeding lines leading to it; there is no such thing as diagonal reading. In fact, you may find a number of questions on this site where someone presents a proof of $1=0$ or the like consisting completely of commentless equations - and one has to really check that there is a step somewhere where the apparent transformation is a division by an expression that cannot be assumed to be non-zero. (Such a mistake is probably much easier to spot if at least some comments a la "Now I divide both sides by ..." are added)

  • It may happen that some people are easier convinced than others, too easy sometimes, i.e., it may happen that an argument is accepted by some and for quite some time until it is discovered that there really is a gap. Maybe this is the risk of the lax notion of proof as formulated above. As mathematics is usually very proud of its rigor and undoubtable proofs, this possibility is often neglected or even mentally denied. But as a whole, such errors are very rare and in fact works claiming to proove a very significant result are generally subject to extreme scrutiny over some length of time until they are accepted (such as Wiles' proof of a theorem having Fermat's Last Theorem as corollary).
  • If one really demands formal proofs, it takes considerably long to achieve meaningful results (e.g., Principia Mathematica has a proof of $1+1=2$ only somewhere in the middle of volume 2).
  • There are ongoing projects to explicitly translate several important results from informal to formal. It may even happen that these projects hit on a few minor (and resolvable) gaps, but it is generally doubted that they may find real obstacles. And while I personally would find it significantly convincing for the proven result if such a computer checkable translation succeeds - the "real" proof is still the informal original ...
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