Principia Mathematica

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1. 01

   Two authors tried to build all of mathematics from pure logic alone, needing hundreds of pages just to prove that 1+1=2.

   Principia Mathematica · 1910

   Fundamental mathematics can be derived from pure logical principles, but the proof is extremely laborious.

   Russell and Whitehead wanted to show numbers and addition are not just memorized rules but can be built rigorously from basic logical symbols. The work was huge and painstaking, with the proof of 1+1=2 appearing only hundreds of pages in. Their effort revealed how deep simple ideas truly are.

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