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Definition of Axioms and Theorems 📂Set Theory

Definition of Axioms and Theorems

Definition

A proposition that is regarded as not requiring proof is called an axiom, and a proposition that has been proved is called a theorem.

Explanation

If you trace back the theorems needed to prove a theorem, you eventually reach propositions that cannot be proved on the basis of other statements; these are axioms.

For reference, a postulate is a term similar to “an axiom used in a particular field”, and indeed it appears in Geometry in systems such as Euclid’s axiom system or Birkhoff’s axiom system, but in essence it is not distinguished from an axiom.

See also