Alphabeta Math
TheoremStatement: Literature-sourcedProof: AI-adaptedprecheck passverified 2026-08-02 (claude-opus-5)
How statement and proof provenance work

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.
  • AI-generated: a genuinely novel statement formulated by AI, with no source for the claim itself.

These labels describe origin, not correctness: citations and verification chips remain separate evidence.

The well-ordering principle

Statement

Every nonempty subset S⊆N has a least element: there is ℓ∈S with ℓ≤s for all s∈S.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: A nonempty subset S⊆N. Define T={ n∈N:every m with m≤n satisfies m∉S } (informally, no element of S is ≤n).

[L1]

Induction principle: a subset of N that contains 0 and is closed under σ equals N (The principle of mathematical induction).

[L2]

m<n  ⟺  σ(m)≤n; consequently no k satisfies n<k<σ(n) (Discreteness: σ(n) is the immediate successor).

[L3]

Exactly one of s<n, s=n, n<s holds (Trichotomy of the order on N); and n<s  ⟺  σ(n)≤s (Discreteness: σ(n) is the immediate successor).

[L4]

σ is injective (Peano axiom P2) (The von Neumann naturals form a Peano system).

[L5]

σ(a)+i=σ(a+i) for all a,i (the left successor law, Left successor law for addition).

[L6]

0+k=k for all k (Left identity for addition).

Proof

technique · contradiction
1.1

Suppose S is nonempty but has no least element.

assume-contra
1.2

If m<σ(n) then m≤n: by [L2] applied to m and σ(n) we get σ(m)≤σ(n), say σ(m)+i=σ(n); then σ(m+i)=σ(m)+i=σ(n) [L5], so m+i=n by injectivity [L4], hence m≤n.

L2L4L5
2.1

First, 0∈T: if 0∈S then 0≤s for all s∈S, since 0+s=s [L6], making 0 a least element, contrary to the assumption; hence 0∉S; moreover m≤0 forces m=0, because m≠0 would give 0<m (as 0+m=m [L6] with m≠0) while m≤0 gives m<0, and [L3] admits at most one of these; so every m≤0 lies outside S.

step 1.1L3L6given
2.2

Next, T is closed under σ: assume n∈T; if σ(n)∈S then no s∈S satisfies s<σ(n) (else s≤n by step 1.2, so s∉S because n∈T, a contradiction), hence σ(n)≤s for all s∈S by [L3], making σ(n) a least element, contrary to the assumption; therefore σ(n)∉S, and any m with m≤σ(n) satisfies m=σ(n) or m≠σ(n); in the second case m≤σ(n) together with m≠σ(n) gives m<σ(n) by the definition of the strict order, hence m≤n by step 1.2 and m∉S because n∈T, while in the first case m=σ(n)∉S; so every m≤σ(n) lies outside S, giving σ(n)∈T.

step 1.1step 1.2L3
3.1

By the induction principle [L1], from 0∈T and closure under σ, T=N; then for every n, taking m=n≤n shows n∉S, so S=∅, contradicting nonemptiness; therefore S has a least element.

step 2.1step 2.2L1discharge-contradiction∎

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