Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2025/iii/paper-120/3/f/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 120 3 f Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Assume multiplication in were recursive. The multiplication half of Tennenbaum's coding argument says that, for a fixed nonstandard code , bothare computably enumerable from the multiplication table. The proof uses the canonical prime-power coding in PA; bounded inequalities are replaced by existential sum-of-four-squares conditions using the Lagrange four-square theorem, and the resulting witnesses can be searched for effectively from multiplication. Dovetailing the two searches decides the coded set. Applied to , this would make recursive, contradicting the hypothesis. Therefore multiplication in cannot be recursive.
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