Alphabeta Math
False statementConstruction: AI-adaptedVerification: AI-generatedPipeline-generatedprecheck passaudited 2026-08-31
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The first chip identifies the source of the statement or construction; the second identifies the source of its local proof or verification.

  • Literature-sourced: the exact statement appears in a cited source; only wording and notation differ.
  • AI-adapted: a semantically identical restatement of literature-sourced material, modulo indexing, notation, and boundary cases adopted by the library.
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FALSE: an acyclic mapping cone is contractible

Statement

Every acyclic mapping cone is contractible.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: The zero map from the three-term complex 0Z2Zmod2Z/20 to the zero complex.

[A1]

The statement refuted is: every acyclic mapping cone is contractible.

[L1]

A contractible complex is one whose identity map is null-homotopic (A contractible complex).

[L2]

The cone of the zero map is the direct sum with a shift (The cone of the zero map is the direct sum with a shift).

[L3]

Shift preserves contractibility and quasi-isomorphism status (Shift preserves homotopy equivalences, contractibility, and quasi-isomorphisms).

[L4]

A quasi-isomorphism is a chain map inducing isomorphisms on all homology objects (Quasi-isomorphism).

Refutation

technique · direct
1.1

The displayed source complex is acyclic: multiplication by 2 is injective, reduction modulo 2 is surjective, and its kernel is 2Z, the image of the first map. If it were contractible, [L1] would make its identity null-homotopic; in degree 0 that would supply a section Z/2Z of the quotient map ZZ/2, which is impossible. Thus the source complex is acyclic and noncontractible.

L1givenalgebra
2.1

By [L2], the displayed mapping cone is the shift of the source complex. Because the zero map from an acyclic complex to the zero complex induces isomorphisms on all homology groups, [L4] makes that map a quasi-isomorphism; then [L3] makes its shift a quasi-isomorphism too. Hence the cone is acyclic. If it were contractible, applying [L3] with shift [1] would make the source complex contractible, contradicting step 1.1. Therefore the displayed mapping cone is acyclic but not contractible, directly contradicting [A1]. This is why the cone criteria for quasi-isomorphism and homotopy equivalence are different.

A1L2L3L4step 1.1givenalgebra

Depends on

Used by

Nothing in the library uses this result yet.

Dependency tree · two levels

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Sources