| Description: This proof of dfbi1 184, discovered by Gregory Bush on 8-Mar-2004, has
     several curious properties.  First, it has only 17 steps directly from the
     axioms and df-bi 177, compared to over 800 steps were the proof of
dfbi1 184
     expanded into axioms.  Second, step 2 demands only the property of
"true";
     any axiom (or theorem) could be used.  It might be thought, therefore,
     that it is in some sense redundant, but in fact no proof is shorter than
     this (measured by number of steps).  Third, it illustrates how
     intermediate steps can "blow up" in size even in short proofs. 
Fourth,
     the compressed proof is only 182 bytes (or 17 bytes in D-proof notation),
     but the generated web page is over 200kB with intermediate steps that are
     essentially incomprehensible to humans (other than Gregory Bush).  If
     there were an obfuscated code contest for proofs, this would be a
     contender.  This "blowing up" and incomprehensibility of the
intermediate
     steps vividly demonstrate the advantages of using many layered
     intermediate theorems, since each theorem is easier to understand.
     (Contributed by Gregory Bush, 10-Mar-2004.)  (New usage is discouraged.)
     (Proof modification is discouraged.) |