The theory presented here stemmed from years of teaching analysis at pre-university level first using the concept of infinitesimal as defined in nonstandard analysis by Robinson, then the concept of ultrasmall as defined in our joint work with Hrbacek and Lessmann presented in the appendix. This research led to the question : If one has finite yet ultralarge quantities, is it possible to avoid infinite quantities ? The alternative set theory of Vopěnka is a theory of finite sets including classes that can be infinite. The theory of objects is a merger of certain axioms of Vopěnka with axioms that determine levels of visibility as in relative analysis. We took as first principle : $x\subseteq y\Rightarrow x\sqsubseteq y$, which specifies that if object $x$ is included in object $y$, then $x$ "appears" at the level of $y$. This statement would be false with infinite quantities and is in fact a characterisation of finite sets : this is a well-known theorem of nonstandard analysis. The introduction of this principle as starting point is making a strong point that all objects will be finite - in the usual sense of the word. The other founding axiom is Gordon and Andreev's axiom schema : If $\Phi$ is a formula, and if $\Phi(\emptyset)$ is true and that $\Phi(x)$ and $\Phi(y)$ imply $\Phi(x\cup\{y\})$, then $\Phi(x)$ is true for all $x$. An emphasis is made on the concept of contextual formulae. This concept is one of our contributions to relative analysis of Hrbacek and determines an equivalence to well-formed formulae. We show that the resulting system is relatively consistent with Hrbacek's FRIST and Péraire's RIST which are conservative extensions of ZFC. The theory of objects extends set theory of Zermelo and Fraenkel without choice and with negation of the infinity axiom. Integers and rationals are defined and endowed with an ultraproximity relation. A draft of a construction of "numeric grains" is presented : these numbers could prove to have properties sufficiently similar to real numbers to allow to perform analysis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:CCSD/oai:tel.archives-ouvertes.fr:tel-00724811 |
| Date | 07 July 2011 |
| Creators | O'Donovan, Richard |
| Publisher | Université Blaise Pascal - Clermont-Ferrand II |
| Source Sets | CCSD theses-EN-ligne, France |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | PhD thesis |
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