The Undecidable: Basic Papers on Undecidable Propositions, Unsolvable Problems and Computable Functions
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Overview
An anthology of fundamental papers on undecidability and unsolvability, this classic reference opens with Gödel's landmark 1931 paper demonstrating that systems of logic cannot admit proofs of all true assertions of arithmetic. Subsequent papers by Gödel, Church, Turing, and Post single out the class of recursive functions as computable by finite algorithms. 1965 edition.Synopsis
In this corrected reprint of the work originally published by Raven Press Books, Ltd., Hewlett, New York, in 1965, Davis (emeritus, mathematical sciences, New York U.) collects classic papers and authors' supplementary notes tackling undecidability and unsolvability. The anthology begins with Gödel's landmark 1931 paper arguing that formal logic systems cannot admit proofs of all true assertions of arithmetic. Church, Turing, Post, and Kleene treat recursive functions, problems from the theory of abstract computing machines, and the classification theory of unsolvable problems. Annotation © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR