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:

    There is nothing in the world that I loathe more than group activity, that communal bath where the hairy and slippery mix in a multiplication of mediocrity.
    Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)

    There never comes a point where a theory can be said to be true. The most that one can claim for any theory is that it has shared the successes of all its rivals and that it has passed at least one test which they have failed.
    —A.J. (Alfred Jules)