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Full Idea
Berry's Paradox refers to 'the least integer not namable in fewer than nineteen syllables' - a paradox because it has just been named in eighteen syllables.
Gist of Idea
Berry's Paradox finds a contradiction in the naming of huge numbers
Source
James Robert Brown (Philosophy of Mathematics [1999], Ch. 5)
Book Ref
Brown,James Robert: 'Philosophy of Mathematics' [Routledge 2002], p.71
A Reaction
Apparently George Boolos used this quirky idea as a basis for a new and more streamlined proof of Gödel's Theorem. Don't tell me you don't find that impressive.
18125 | Berry's Paradox considers the meaning of 'The least number not named by this name' [Bostock] |
13484 | Berry's Paradox: we succeed in referring to a number, with a term which says we can't do that [Hart,WD] |
9638 | Berry's Paradox finds a contradiction in the naming of huge numbers [Brown,JR] |
13370 | 'x is a natural number definable in less than 19 words' leads to contradiction [Priest,G] |