Abstract

We analyze N. C. A. da Costa and F. A. Doria’s “exotic formalization” of the conjecture P = NP [3–7]. For any standard axiomatic PA extension T and any number-theoretic sentence ${\varphi }$ , we let ${\varphi ^{\star} := \varphi \vee \lnot \mathsf{Con}\left( \mathsf{T}\right)}$ and prove the following “exotic” inferences 1–3. 1. ${\mathsf{T}+\varphi ^{\star}}$ is consistent, if so is T, 2. ${\mathsf{T}+\varphi}$ is consistent, provided that ${\mathsf{T}+\varphi ^{\star}}$ is ω-consistent, 3. ${\mathsf{T}+\varphi}$ is consistent, provided that T is consistent and has the same provably total recursive functions as ${\mathsf{T}+\left( \varphi \leftrightarrow \varphi ^{\star }\right) }$ . Furthermore we show that 1–3 continue to hold for ${\varphi ^{\star} := \varphi _{S} :=\varphi \vee \lnot S}$ , where ${S=\forall x\exists yR\left( x,y\right)}$ is any ${\Pi _{2}^{0}}$ sentence satisfying: 4. ${\left( \forall n\in \omega \right) \left( \mathsf{T}\vdash S_{x}\left[ \underline{n}\right] \right) }$ , 5. ${\mathsf{Con}\left( \mathsf{T}\right) \Rightarrow \mathsf{T}\nvdash S}$ . We observe that if ${\varphi :=\left[ \mathsf{P}=\mathsf{NP}\right] }$ and ${S:= \left[\digamma total\right] }$ , where ${\digamma=\digamma _{\mathsf{T}}}$ is da Costa-Doria “exotic” function with respect to T, then 4, 5 are satisfied for most familiar (presumably) consistent T in question, while ${\varphi _{S}}$ becomes equivalent to da Costa-Doria “exotic formalization” ${\left[ \mathsf{P}=\mathsf{NP}\right]^{\digamma}}$ . Moreover, the corresponding “exotic” inferences 1–3 generalize analogous da Costa-Doria results. Hence these “exotic” inferences are universal for all number-theoretic sentences and not characteristic to the conjecture P = NP. Nor do they infer relative consistency of P = NP (see Conclusion 15 in the text)