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Concept
Existence theorem
Summary
In mathematics, an existence theorem is a theorem which asserts the existence of a certain object. It might be a statement which begins with the phrase "there exist(s)", or it might be a universal statement whose last quantifier is existential (e.g., "for all x, y, ... there exist(s) ..."). In the formal terms of symbolic logic, an existence theorem is a theorem with a prenex normal form involving the existential quantifier, even though in practice, such theorems are usually stated in standard mathematical language. For example, the statement that the sine function is continuous everywhere, or any theorem written in big O notation, can be considered as theorems which are existential by nature—since the quantification can be found in the definitions of the concepts used.
A controversy that goes back to the early twentieth century concerns the issue of purely theoretic existence theorems, that is, theorems which depend on non-constructive foundational material such as the axiom of infinity, the axiom of choice or the law of excluded middle. Such theorems provide no indication as to how to construct (or exhibit) the object whose existence is being claimed. From a constructivist viewpoint, such approaches are not viable as it lends to mathematics losing its concrete applicability, while the opposing viewpoint is that abstract methods are far-reaching, in a way that numerical analysis cannot be.
In mathematics, an existence theorem is purely theoretical if the proof given for it does not indicate a construction of the object whose existence is asserted. Such a proof is non-constructive, since the whole approach may not lend itself to construction. In terms of algorithms, purely theoretical existence theorems bypass all algorithms for finding what is asserted to exist. These are to be contrasted with the so-called "constructive" existence theorems, which many constructivist mathematicians working in extended logics (such as intuitionistic logic) believe to be intrinsically stronger than their non-constructive counterparts.
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Related concepts (1)
Existential quantification
In predicate logic, an existential quantification is a type of quantifier, a logical constant which is interpreted as "there exists", "there is at least one", or "for some". It is usually denoted by the logical operator symbol ∃, which, when used together with a predicate variable, is called an existential quantifier ("∃x" or "∃(x)" or "(∃x)"). Existential quantification is distinct from universal quantification ("for all"), which asserts that the property or relation holds for all members of the domain.