This article is now available on my blog: https://www.sligocki.com/2009/10/14/goodstein-sequences.html

Goodstein sequences are very long sequences which eventually reach 0, but run for so long that Peano arithmetic cannot be used to prove that they reach 0.

Introduction

Let be the Goodstein sequence starting with n and ending at 0.

Let be the base of the hereditary notation of the last term of (Alternatively, it is the length of the Goodstein sequence + 1). We shall call these the Goodstein numbers

0 2
1 3
2 5
3 7
4

Now, in fact, if , then . I show that this function has a meaning.

Growth of Goodstein Numbers

Let us define a family of functions:


Ah ha,

  • and


In fact:

0 2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Notice the pattern? If appears in then (where B is the base and k<B). Likewise, if appears, then .


In fact, let's rename our functions (here is a label, not a variable — in fact, it is actually an ordinal number, or generalized index, who's properties I hope to take advantage of):

And add a new one:

Thus, if we have a value of the form at base B in , then .

Derivation of Growth Function

Note: It turns out that the function I define here is a variant of the fast-growing hierarchy much like the Hardy hierarchy.

Goodstein talks about the hereditary form of a number and the unique ordinal number associated with each hereditary form. For example:

is in form

Let us identify the hereditary form with that ordinal number.

If N has hereditary form with base B, then let be the base at which the the Goodstein sequence starting at N in base B will end.

For some values of :







Note: . So Graham's number .

Now where we remember that . So,





...


Now let's look back at the table:

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16



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