# nLab Kock field

### Context

#### Algebra

higher algebra

universal algebra

# Contents

## Idea

A definition of field in constructive mathematics which uses denial inequality. It is primarily used in synthetic differential geometry.

## Definition

A field in the sense of Kock, or Kock field for short, is a commutative ring $R$ such that Anders Kock‘s Postulate K is satisfied:

1. $R$ is nontrivial ($0 \neq 1$)

2. For all natural numbers $n \in \mathrm{N}$ and functions $x \colon \mathrm{Fin}(n) \to R$, if $x(i) \neq 0$ for all elements $i \in \mathrm{Fin}(n)$, then there exists an element $j \in \mathrm{Fin}(n)$ such that $x(j)$ is invertible.

(Here $Fin(n) \simeq \{1, \cdots, n\}$ denotes any finite set with $n$ elements.)

## Properties

Every Kock field is a local ring where the denial inequality $\neq$ is the apartness relation defined by $a \neq b$ if and only if $b - a$ is invertible. Thus, it is a weak local ring with an equivalence relation $a \approx b$ defined by the double negation of equality.

However, unlike a Heyting field, a Kock field cannot in general be proven to have stable equality, since its apartness relation is not tight.

Every Kock field with decidable equality is a discrete field.

## References

Last revised on December 7, 2022 at 17:42:04. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.