List of Statements Undecidable in ZFC - Group Theory

Group Theory

In 1973, Saharon Shelah showed that the Whitehead problem ("is every abelian group A with Ext1(A, Z) = 0 a free abelian group?") is independent of ZFC. A group with Ext1(A, Z) = 0 which is not free abelian is called a Whitehead group; MA + ¬CH proves the existence of a Whitehead group, while V = L proves that no Whitehead group exists.

Read more about this topic:  List Of Statements Undecidable In ZFC

Famous quotes containing the words group and/or theory:

    Instead of seeing society as a collection of clearly defined “interest groups,” society must be reconceptualized as a complex network of groups of interacting individuals whose membership and communication patterns are seldom confined to one such group alone.
    Diana Crane (b. 1933)

    By the “mud-sill” theory it is assumed that labor and education are incompatible; and any practical combination of them impossible. According to that theory, a blind horse upon a tread-mill, is a perfect illustration of what a laborer should be—all the better for being blind, that he could not tread out of place, or kick understandingly.... Free labor insists on universal education.
    Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)