[math-fun] Inconsistency of Peano arithmetic

Apparently, Prof. Ed. Nelson of the Princeton U. math dept. has been about to publish a book in which he supposedly proves the inconsistency of Peano arithmetic. But his outline of his proof, made public, led to Terence Tao's pointing out a problem in the reasoning, and apparently Nelson has withdrawn his claim. Discussion here: < http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2011/09/the_inconsistency_of_arithmeti.h... > (Which sounds a bit like a reenactment of Bertrand Russell's pointing out a problem with the fundamentals of Gottlob Frege's about-to-be-published magnum opus on set theory, a little over a century ago.) --Dan Sometimes the brain has a mind of its own.