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173 points ndrwnaguib | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.001s | source

This project aims to formalize the first volume of Prof. Bertrand Russell’s Principia Mathematica using the Lean theorem prover. Throughout the formalization, I tried to rigorously follow Prof. Russell’s proof, with no or little added statements from my side, which were only necessary for the formalization but not the logical argument. Should you notice any inaccuracy (even if it does not necessarily falsify the proof), please let me know as I would like to proceed with the same spirit of rigour. Before starting this project, I had already found Prof. Elkind’s formalization of the Principia using Rocq (formerly Coq), which is much mature work than this one. However, I still thought it would be fun to do it using Lean4.

https://ndrwnaguib.com/principia/

https://github.com/ndrwnaguib/principia

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krick ◴[] No.43797518[source]
> Although the Principia is thought to be “a monumental failure”, as said by Prof. Freeman Dyson

I'd like some elaboration on that. I failed to find a source.

replies(3): >>43797657 #>>43798512 #>>43800892 #
Jtsummers ◴[] No.43797657[source]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RD5D4swZfk - Possibly this.
replies(2): >>43797812 #>>43797894 #
imglorp ◴[] No.43797812[source]
TLDW: Godel's incompleteness theorem is at odds with the goals of Principia.
replies(3): >>43797837 #>>43797935 #>>43798256 #
yablak ◴[] No.43797935[source]
Which is weird because he used the formalism of principia to actually state the theorem, or at least part of it
replies(1): >>43798717 #
1. grandempire ◴[] No.43798717{3}[source]
Russel builds a logical system - it just can’t ground mathematics. Gödel’s paper is about the system in Russels book.