arXiv subjects

Lawrence S. Moss

Publications and source records attributed to Lawrence S. Moss.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

KnowTeX: Visualizing Mathematical Dependencies

Dependency graphs that show how definitions, theorems, and proofs relate to each other are valuable for understanding the structure of mathematical texts. Existing tools such as Lean Blueprint and plasTeXdepgraph generate such graphs within formal proof ecosystems, but they require familiarity with proof assistants or specific compilation pipelines. We present KnowTeX, a standalone Python tool that extracts dependency graphs directly from LaTeX sources without requiring any external framework. KnowTeX supports two complementary modes: a manual mode where authors annotate their source with lightweight commands compatible with Lean Blueprint, and an infer mode that automatically discovers dependencies through a layered system of deterministic and heuristic rules. The tool handles multi-file projects, detects cycles, applies transitive reduction, and exports graphs in DOT, TikZ, and PNG formats with an interactive preview. We evaluate KnowTeX on several mathematical texts and discuss how it complements recent tools such as LeanArchitect, which operates from the Lean side, while KnowTeX works entirely on the LaTeX side without requiring any formalization.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2026

Terminal Coalgebras in Countably Many Steps

We present a collection of results that imply that an endofunctor on a category has a terminal coalgebra obtainable as a countable limit of its terminal-coalgebra chain. This holds for finitary endofunctors on locally finitely presentable categories under conditions on both the functor and the category. We adapt finiteness arguments that were originally advanced by Worrell concerning terminal coalgebras for finitary set functors. Examples include the categories of sets, posets, vector spaces, graphs, nominal sets, and presheaves on finite sets. Worrell also described, without proof, the terminal-coalgebra chain of the finite power-set functor. We provide a detailed proof following his ideas. We then turn to polynomial endofunctors on the categories of Hausdorff topological spaces and metric spaces. The Vietoris space of compact subsets yields an endofunctor $\mathscr{V}$ on the category of Hausdorff spaces. Vietoris polynomial endofunctors are built from $ \mathscr{V}$, the identity and constant functors by forming products, coproducts and compositions. Their terminal coalgebras are obtained in $ω$ steps. We then turn to the class of Hausdorff polynomial functors on the category of metric spaces, which is analogous but uses in lieu of $\mathscr{V}$ the Hausdorff functor $\mathcal{H}$. We prove they have terminal coalgebras obtained in $ω+ ω$ steps. Finally, we show that every finitary endofunctor on the category of vector spaces over a fixed field again has a terminal coalgebra obtained in $ω+ω$ steps.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2026

Modal Measurable Logics via a Modal Loomis-Sikorski Representation Theorem

We investigate a modal extension of the infinitary classical logic with countable meets and joins, formulated with an eye toward measure-theoretic work in dynamical systems and in point-free ergodic theory. We define a modal formalism in this language, which we call modal measurable logics. We also introduce a Kripke-like semantics for these logics in measurable spaces taking a designated modal sigma-ideal into consideration. Using a restriction of Jonsson-Tarski duality and a modal extension of the Loomis-Sikorski theorem, we prove completeness of modal measurable logics with respect to this new semantics.

math.LO↗

arXiv2026

Measurable Majorities Are Not Finitely Axiomatizable

This theoretical note studies the finite axiomatizability of strict majority reasoning in finite social decision frames. Moss and Pedersen (2026) introduce a coherence criterion that characterizes exactly when qualitative majority judgments are representable by a finitely additive measure. The question addressed here is whether that coherence criterion can be replaced, in the finite setting, by any bounded finite fragment. We prove that it cannot. For every $k\ge 1$, we construct a maximal standard frame whose shortest coherence violation has length exactly $2k+2$. Hence there is no uniform finite bound on the incoherence index of social decision frames, resolving Conjecture 5.7 stated by Moss and Pedersen (2026). The construction is geometric, in the sense that it proceeds via orthogonality and dimension in rational vector spaces, and self-contained: it isolates a symmetric family of half-sized voting blocs and extends it to a maximal frame in which every shorter balanced obstruction is excluded. Along the explicit infinite sequence of universe sizes obtained in the construction, this also establishes the middle-layer family predicted by Conjecture B.25 by Moss and Pedersen (2026). Together with the soundness and completeness theorem for the Moss-Pedersen minimal logic for strict majorities, this establishes that measurable social decision frames are not finitely axiomatizable in that language.

econ.TH↗

arXiv2026

The Measurable Majority

This paper studies strict majority reasoning in finite electorates using so-called $\textit{social decision frames}$: finite sets of voters equipped with distinguished families of coalitions interpreted as those voting blocs evaluated to form a strict majority. A coherence criterion for qualitative majority judgments is identified and shown to give an exact characterization for representability of strict majorities by finitely additive measures. In addition, a minimal natural logic for reasoning about strict majorities is shown to be sound and complete. These developments motivate examination of associated combinatorial questions concerning incoherence in finite families of sets; partial results and a conjecture are given. Finally, the results of this paper are applied to correct a classical representation theorem for weak qualitative probability structures due to Patrick Suppes and to establish a May-type characterization for ordinary strict majority rule for social decision frames.

econ.TH↗

arXiv2025

The Sierpinski Carpet as a Final Coalgebra

We advance the program of connections between final coalgebras as sources of circularity in mathematics and fractal sets of real numbers. In particular, we are interested in the Sierpinski carpet, taking it as a fractal subset of the unit square. We construct a category of square sets and an endofunctor on it which corresponds to the operation of gluing copies of a square set along segments. We show that the initial algebra and final coalgebra exist for our functor, and that the final coalgebra is bi-Lipschitz equivalent to the Sierpinski carpet. Along the way, we make connections to topics such as the iterative construction of initial algebras as colimits, corecursive algebras, and the classic treatment of fractal sets due to Hutchinson.

math.CT↗

arXiv2025

Math Natural Language Inference: this should be easy!

We ask whether contemporary LLMs are able to perform natural language inference (NLI) tasks on mathematical texts. We call this the Math NLI problem. We construct a corpus of Math NLI pairs whose premises are from extant mathematical text and whose hypotheses and gold labels were provided by people with experience in both research-level mathematics and also in the NLI field. We also investigate the quality of corpora using the same premises but whose hypotheses are provided by LLMs themselves. We not only investigate the performance but also the inter-group consistency of the diverse group of LLMs. We have both positive and negative findings. Among our positive findings: in some settings, using a majority vote of LLMs is approximately equivalent to using human-labeled data in the Math NLI area. On the negative side: LLMs still struggle with mathematical language. They occasionally fail at even basic inferences. Current models are not as prone to hypothesis-only "inference" in our data the way the previous generation had been. In addition to our findings, we also provide our corpora as data to support future work on Math NLI.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2025

Fractals from Regular Behaviours

We forge connections between the theory of fractal sets obtained as attractors of iterated function systems and process calculi. To this end, we reinterpret Milner's expressions for processes as contraction operators on a complete metric space. When the space is, for example, the plane, the denotations of fixed point terms correspond to familiar fractal sets. We give a sound and complete axiomatization of fractal equivalence, the congruence on terms consisting of pairs that construct identical self-similar sets in all interpretations. We further make connections to labelled Markov chains and to invariant measures. In all of this work, we use important results from process calculi. For example, we use Rabinovich's completeness theorem for trace equivalence in our own completeness theorem. In addition to our results, we also raise many questions related to both fractals and process calculi.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2023

Algebra of Self-Replication

Typical arguments for results like Kleene's Second Recursion Theorem and the existence of self-writing computer programs bear the fingerprints of equational reasoning and combinatory logic. In fact, the connection of combinatory logic and computability theory is very old, and this paper extends this connection in new ways. In one direction, we counter the main trend in both computability theory and combinatory logic of heading straight to undecidability. Instead, this paper proposes using several very small equational logics to examine results in computability theory itself. These logics are decidable via term rewriting. We argue that they have something interesting to say about computability theory. They are closely related to fragments of combinatory logic which are decidable, and so this paper contributes to the study of such fragments. The paper has a few surprising results such as a classification of quine programs (programs which output themselves) in two decidable fragments. The classification goes via examination of normal forms in term rewriting systems, hence the title of the paper. The classification is an explanation of why all quine programs (in any language) are "pretty much the same, except for inessential details." In addition, we study the relational structure whose objects are the programs with the relation "p expresses q" meaning that if the program p is run on nothing, then it eventually outputs the program q.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2023

Extracting Mathematical Concepts with Large Language Models

We extract mathematical concepts from mathematical text using generative large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, contributing to the field of automatic term extraction (ATE) and mathematical text processing, and also to the study of LLMs themselves. Our work builds on that of others in that we aim for automatic extraction of terms (keywords) in one mathematical field, category theory, using as a corpus the 755 abstracts from a snapshot of the online journal "Theory and Applications of Categories", circa 2020. Where our study diverges from previous work is in (1) providing a more thorough analysis of what makes mathematical term extraction a difficult problem to begin with; (2) paying close attention to inter-annotator disagreements; (3) providing a set of guidelines which both human and machine annotators could use to standardize the extraction process; (4) introducing a new annotation tool to help humans with ATE, applicable to any mathematical field and even beyond mathematics; (5) using prompts to ChatGPT as part of the extraction process, and proposing best practices for such prompts; and (6) raising the question of whether ChatGPT could be used as an annotator on the same level as human experts. Our overall findings are that the matter of mathematical ATE is an interesting field which can benefit from participation by LLMs, but LLMs themselves cannot at this time surpass human performance on it.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2022

Logics for Epistemic Actions: Completeness, Decidability, Expressivity

We consider dynamic versions of epistemic logic as formulated in Baltag and Moss "Logics for epistemic programs" (2004). That paper proposed a logical language (actually families of languages parameterized by action signatures) for dynamic epistemic logic. It had been shown that validity in the language is Pi-1-1-complete, so there are no recursively axiomatized complete logical systems for it. In contrast, this paper proves a weak completeness result for the fragment without action iteration, and a strong completeness result for the fragment without action iteration and common knowledge. Our work involves a detour into term rewriting theory. The argument uses modal filtration, and thus we obtain the finite model property and hence decidability. We also give a translation of our largest language into PDL, thereby obtaining a second proof of decidability. The paper closes with some results on expressive power. These are mostly concerned with comparing the action-iteration-free language with modal logic augmented by transitive closure operators. We answer a natural question about the languages we obtain by varying the action signature: we prove that a logical language with operators for private announcements is more expressive than one for public announcements.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2022

A Completeness Result for Inequational Reasoning in a Full Higher-Order Setting

This paper obtains a completeness result for inequational reasoning with applicative terms without variables in a setting where the intended semantic models are the full structures, the full type hierarchies over preorders for the base types. The syntax allows for the specification that a given symbol be interpreted as a monotone function, or an antitone function, or both. There is a natural set of five rules for inequational reasoning. One can add variables and also add a substitution rule, but we observe that this logic would be incomplete for full structures. This is why the completeness result in this paper pertains to terms without variables. Since the completeness is already known for the class of general (Henkin) structures, we are interested in full structures. We present a completeness theorem. Our result is not optimal because we restrict to base preorders which have a weak completeness property: every pair of elements has an upper bound and a lower bound. To compensate we add several rules to the logic. We also present extensions and variations of our completeness result.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2022

An Initial Algebra Theorem Without Iteration

The Initial Algebra Theorem by Trnková et al.~states, under mild assumptions, that an endofunctor has an initial algebra provided it has a pre-fixed point. The proof crucially depends on transfinitely iterating the functor and in fact shows that, equivalently, the (transfinite) initial-algebra chain stops. We give a constructive proof of the Initial Algebra Theorem that avoids transfinite iteration of the functor. For a given pre-fixed point $A$ of the functor, it uses Pataraia's theorem to obtain the least fixed point of a monotone function on the partial order formed by all subobjects of $A$. Thanks to properties of recursive coalgebras, this least fixed point yields an initial algebra. We obtain new results on fixed points and initial algebras in categories enriched over directed-complete partial orders, again without iteration. Using transfinite iteration we equivalently obtain convergence of the initial-algebra chain as an equivalent condition, overall yielding a streamlined version of the original proof.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2021

Exploring the Landscape of Relational Syllogistic Logics

This paper explores relational syllogistic logics, a family of logical systems related to reasoning about relations in extensions of the classical syllogistic. These are all decidable logical systems. We prove completeness theorems and complexity results for a natural subfamily of relational syllogistic logics, parametrized by constructors for terms and for sentences.

math.LO↗

arXiv2021

Presenting the Sierpinski Gasket in Various Categories of Metric Spaces

This paper studies presentations of the Sierpinski gasket as a final coalgebra for functors on several categories of metric spaces with additional designated points. The three categories which we study differ on their morphisms: one uses short (non-expanding) maps, a second uses Lipschitz maps, and a third uses continuous maps. The functor in all cases is very similar to what we find in the standard presentation of the gasket as an attractor. We prove that the Sierpinski gasket itself is the final coalgebra of a naturally-occurring functor in the continuous setting. In the short setting, the final coalgebra exists but it is better described as the completion of the initial algebra, and this is not isomorphic to the Sierpinski gasket. In the Lipschitz setting, the final coalgebra does not exist. We determine the initial algebras in all three settings as well.

math.CT↗

arXiv2021

NeuralLog: Natural Language Inference with Joint Neural and Logical Reasoning

Deep learning (DL) based language models achieve high performance on various benchmarks for Natural Language Inference (NLI). And at this time, symbolic approaches to NLI are receiving less attention. Both approaches (symbolic and DL) have their advantages and weaknesses. However, currently, no method combines them in a system to solve the task of NLI. To merge symbolic and deep learning methods, we propose an inference framework called NeuralLog, which utilizes both a monotonicity-based logical inference engine and a neural network language model for phrase alignment. Our framework models the NLI task as a classic search problem and uses the beam search algorithm to search for optimal inference paths. Experiments show that our joint logic and neural inference system improves accuracy on the NLI task and can achieve state-of-art accuracy on the SICK and MED datasets.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2020

OCNLI: Original Chinese Natural Language Inference

Despite the tremendous recent progress on natural language inference (NLI), driven largely by large-scale investment in new datasets (e.g., SNLI, MNLI) and advances in modeling, most progress has been limited to English due to a lack of reliable datasets for most of the world's languages. In this paper, we present the first large-scale NLI dataset (consisting of ~56,000 annotated sentence pairs) for Chinese called the Original Chinese Natural Language Inference dataset (OCNLI). Unlike recent attempts at extending NLI to other languages, our dataset does not rely on any automatic translation or non-expert annotation. Instead, we elicit annotations from native speakers specializing in linguistics. We follow closely the annotation protocol used for MNLI, but create new strategies for eliciting diverse hypotheses. We establish several baseline results on our dataset using state-of-the-art pre-trained models for Chinese, and find even the best performing models to be far outpaced by human performance (~12% absolute performance gap), making it a challenging new resource that we hope will help to accelerate progress in Chinese NLU. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first human-elicited MNLI-style corpus for a non-English language.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2020

On Well-Founded and Recursive Coalgebras

This paper studies fundamental questions concerning category-theoretic models of induction and recursion. We are concerned with the relationship between well-founded and recursive coalgebras for an endofunctor. For monomorphism preserving endofunctors on complete and well-powered categories every coalgebra has a well-founded part, and we provide a new, shorter proof that this is the coreflection in the category of all well-founded coalgebras. We present a new more general proof of Taylor's General Recursion Theorem that every well-founded coalgebra is recursive, and we study under which hypothesis the converse holds. In addition, we present a new equivalent characterization of well-foundedness: a coalgebra is well-founded iff it admits a coalgebra-to-algebra morphism to the initial algebra.

cs.LO↗