Relative Consistency
Beyond consistency, relative consistency is also the mark of a worthwhile axiom system. This is when the undefined terms of a first axiom system are provided definitions from a second such that the axioms of the first are theorems of the second.
A good example is the relative consistency of neutral geometry or absolute geometry with respect to the theory of the real number system. Lines and points are undefined terms in absolute geometry, but assigned meanings in the theory of real numbers in a way that is consistent with both axiom systems.
Read more about this topic: Axiomatic System
Famous quotes containing the words relative and/or consistency:
“She went in there to muse on being rid
Of relative beneath the coffin lid.
No one was by. She stuck her tongue out; slid.”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)
“The lawyer’s truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)