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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Brough, Jackson
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.24782
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author Brough, Jackson
author_facet Brough, Jackson
contents Real numbers in constructive mathematics have always seemed to require compromises of one form or another. Classical proofs of Cauchy completeness require countable choice, Bishop's setoid construction introduces persistent bookkeeping overhead on every definition and theorem, and Dedekind cuts force cumbersome universe-level tracking in predicative type theory. The Homotopy Type Theory (HoTT) book presents an alternative construction of the Cauchy real numbers as a higher inductive-inductive type family, avoiding all three compromises. We formalize the HoTT book reals in Cubical Agda, a proof assistant whose native support for higher inductive types allows the construction to be expressed directly. The code type-checks without postulates or holes, providing a foundation for further machine-assisted work in constructive analysis.
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publishDate 2026
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spellingShingle Formalizing the Real Numbers in Homotopy Type Theory with Cubical Agda
Brough, Jackson
Logic in Computer Science
Real numbers in constructive mathematics have always seemed to require compromises of one form or another. Classical proofs of Cauchy completeness require countable choice, Bishop's setoid construction introduces persistent bookkeeping overhead on every definition and theorem, and Dedekind cuts force cumbersome universe-level tracking in predicative type theory. The Homotopy Type Theory (HoTT) book presents an alternative construction of the Cauchy real numbers as a higher inductive-inductive type family, avoiding all three compromises. We formalize the HoTT book reals in Cubical Agda, a proof assistant whose native support for higher inductive types allows the construction to be expressed directly. The code type-checks without postulates or holes, providing a foundation for further machine-assisted work in constructive analysis.
title Formalizing the Real Numbers in Homotopy Type Theory with Cubical Agda
topic Logic in Computer Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.24782