/- Copyright (c) 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Released under Apache 2.0 license as described in the file LICENSE. Author: Leonardo de Moura -/ import data.encodable open nat encodable /- In mathematics, the axiom of dependent choice is a weak form of the axiom of choice that is sufficient to develop most of real analysis. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiom_of_dependent_choice. We can state it as follows: -/ definition dependent_choice {A : Type} (R : A → A → Prop) := (∀ a : A, ∃ b : A, R a b) → (∀ a : A, ∃ f : nat → A, f 0 = a ∧ ∀ n, R (f n) (f (n+1))) /- If A is an encodable type, and R is a decidable relation, we can prove (dependent_choice R) using the constructive choice function "choose" -/ section depchoice parameters {A : Type} {R : A → A → Prop} parameters [encA : encodable A] [decR : decidable_rel R] include encA decR local infix `~` := R private definition f_aux (a : A) (H : ∀ a, ∃ b, a ~ b) : nat → A | 0 := a | (n+1) := choose (H (f_aux n)) theorem dependent_choice_of_encodable_of_decidable : dependent_choice R := assume H : ∀ a, ∃ b, a ~ b, take a : A, let f : nat → A := f_aux a H in have f_zero : f 0 = a, from rfl, have R_seq : ∀ n, f n ~ f (n+1), from take n, show f n ~ choose (H (f n)), from !choose_spec, exists.intro f (and.intro f_zero R_seq) /- The following slightly stronger version can be proved, where we also "return" the constructed function f. We just have to use Σ instead of ∃, and use Σ-constructor instead of exists.intro. Recall that ⟨f, H⟩ is notation for (sigma.mk f H) -/ theorem stronger_dependent_choice_of_encodable_of_decidable : (∀ a, ∃ b, R a b) → (∀ a, Σ f, f (0:nat) = a ∧ ∀ n, f n ~ f (n+1)) := assume H : ∀ a, ∃ b, a ~ b, take a : A, let f : nat → A := f_aux a H in have f_zero : f 0 = a, from rfl, have R_seq : ∀ n, f n ~ f (n+1), from take n, show f n ~ choose (H (f n)), from !choose_spec, ⟨f, and.intro f_zero R_seq⟩ end depchoice /- If we encode dependent_choice using Σ instead of ∃. Then, we can prove this version without using any extra hypothesis (e.g., A is encodable or R is decidable). The function f can be constructed directly from the hypothesis: ∀ a : A, Σ b : A, R a b because Σ "carries" the witness 'b'. That is, we don't have to search for anything using "choose". -/ open sigma.ops section sigma_depchoice parameters {A : Type} {R : A → A → Prop} local infix `~` := R private definition f_aux (a : A) (H : ∀ a, Σ b, a ~ b) : nat → A | 0 := a | (n+1) := (H (f_aux n)).1 theorem sigma_dependent_choice : (∀ a, Σ b, R a b) → (∀ a, Σ f, f (0:nat) = a ∧ ∀ n, f n ~ f (n+1)) := assume H : ∀ a, Σ b, a ~ b, take a : A, let f : nat → A := f_aux a H in have f_zero : f 0 = a, from rfl, have R_seq : ∀ n, f n ~ f (n+1), from take n, (H (f n)).2, ⟨f, and.intro f_zero R_seq⟩ end sigma_depchoice