2min chapter

The Joy of Why cover image

How Can Some Infinities Be Bigger Than Others?

The Joy of Why

CHAPTER

The Incomplete Axism in Mathematics

Around the 1930s, Gertel proved that actually any sort of intelligible axiom system that you might have attains the modest goal of formalizing arithmetic on the natural numbers is necessarily incomplete. That statement can be coded as some sort of statement about number theory but not in a particularly natural way. And so it was a question that kind of was left from Gertel's time whether there's some other natural mathematical statement which is undecidable based on the axiom system we were working with.

00:00

Get the Snipd
podcast app

Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
App store bannerPlay store banner

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode