Preprint
Communication

This version is not peer-reviewed.

A Solution to the P Versus NP Problem

Alan Z  *

Submitted:

23 October 2025

Posted:

24 October 2025

Read the latest preprint version here

Abstract
People create facts rather than investigate them; people formulate mathematical concepts rather than discover them. But why can people design different mathematical concepts, and use different tools to change the reality? According to conventional wisdom, the relationship between P and NP must be one of two possibilities: either P=NP or P≠NP. Unlike traditional approaches that base mathematical concepts on equivalent transformations—and, by extension, on the principle that correspondence remains unchanged—my theory is founded on non-equivalent transformations. By constructing a special non-equivalent transformation, I will demonstrate that for a problem Pa in the complexity class P and its corresponding problem Pb in the complexity class NP, Pa is a P non-equivalent transformation of Pb, and Pb is an NP non-equivalent transformation of Pa. That is, the relationship between Pa and Pb is neither P=NP nor P≠NP.
Keywords: 
;  

1. Instruction

People establish the correspondence between theory and reality in order to use theory to explain reality. But this implies that theory cannot change reality—if theory were capable of altering reality, the correspondence between theory and reality would no longer hold.
Unlike traditional approaches that base mathematical concepts on equivalent transformations—and, by extension, on the principle that correspondence remains unchanged—my theory is founded on non-equivalent transformations.
In Gödel’s incompleteness theorems, Gödel discovered properties beyond such correspondence—incompleteness. However, he did not realize how to introduce non-equivalent transformations or change of correspondence into mathematics.

2. Proof

Introduction to Gödel Numbering [1]
Theorem 2.1.
Gödel numbering assigns a unique natural number (called a Gödel number) to every well-formed expression in a formal system. This is achieved through a one-to-one mapping that ensures each formula or sequence has a distinct numerical representation. The key insight is that by using properties of prime numbers and factorization, the system can encode complex logical structures into integers, which can then be manipulated arithmetically within the formal system itself.
Step-by-Step Mechanics
The encoding process involves the following steps:
(1) 
Symbol Assignment:
Assign a unique prime number to each primitive symbol in the formal alphabet. For instance:
Logical connectives like “¬” (negation) might be assigned 2.
Variables like “x” could be assigned 3.
Quantifiers like “∀” (universal quantifier) might get 5.
Parentheses or other delimiters receive distinct primes (e.g., “(“ = 7, “)” = 11).
This ensures all symbols have unique identifiers
(2) 
Formula Encoding:
Consider a formula φ composed of a sequence of symbols: s₁, s₂, ..., sₖ.
The Gödel number of φ, denoted ⌈φ⌉, is calculated as:
⌈φ⌉=pc(s₁)₁×pc(s₂)₂ ×…pc(sₖ)
where:
(1)
pᵢ is the i-th prime number (e.g., p₁ = 2, p₂ = 3, p₃ = 5, ...).
(2)
c(sᵢ) is the numerical code assigned to symbol sᵢ.
(3) 
Decoding and Properties:
Due to the fundamental theorem of arithmetic (which states that every integer has a unique prime factorization), each Gödel number can be uniquely decoded back into the original symbol sequence.
This bijective mapping ensures that operations on formulas (e.g., concatenation or substitution) can be represented as arithmetic operations on their Gödel numbers.
To construct Formula G [2], a self-referential statement is formed using Gödel numbering. Specifically, the expression (∀x)¬Dem(x, sub(n, 13, n)) — which asserts that no proof exists for the formula obtained by substituting its own Gödel number into itself — is assigned a unique Gödel number, say n.
Definition 2.2.
If we only modify the Formula Encoding in Gödel numbering as follows:
Consider a formula φ composed of a sequence of symbols: s₁, s₂, ..., sₖ.
The Gödel number of φ, denoted ⌈φ⌉, is calculated as:
⌈φ⌉=pc(s₁)₁×pc(s₂)₂ ×…pc(sₖ)
where:
pᵢ is the (i+1)-th prime number (e.g., p₁ = 3, p₂ = 5, p₃ = 7, ...).
c(sᵢ) is the numerical code assigned to symbol sᵢ.
Then we will construct Formula H replace Formula G.
Definition 2.3.
In Gödel’s incompleteness theorems, it is entirely possible to construct undecidable formulas using numerical variables other than x (such as y, z, k, etc.).
P(M) is one set of formulas containing Formula G and some formulas constructed above.
(P(N) is another set of formulas containing Formula H and others constructed using the same method as P(M).
Peano Arithmetic is denoted as X.
P(M) is defined as one extension of X, and P(N) as another.
To construct the fomula G, the numerical variable y is associated with prime number 13, and the formula (∀x)¬Dem(x, sub(n, 13, n)) is associated with the unique number n.
Proof 2.4.
If Formula G is denoted by (13, n) or (13, G₁), then we can define a sequence of denotations for formulas in P(M) as follows: (13, G₁), (17, G₂), (19, G₃), ..., (Pₖ, Gₖ), and similarly for P(N):(13, H₁), (17, H₂), (19, H₃), ..., (Pₖ, Hₖ) .
Define a non-equivalent transformation in the following way:
X₁=13+0 Y₁=G₁+S₁ Z₁=H₁+O₁
X₂=17+0 Y₂=G₂+S₂ Z₂=H₂+O₂
..,
Xₖ=Pₖ+0 Yₖ=Gₖ+Sₖ Zₖ=Hₖ+Oₖ
(K is an even)
S₁∈N⁺,S₂∈N⁺,..,Sₖ∈N⁺
O₁∈N⁺,O₂∈N⁺,..,Oₖ∈N⁺
Definition 2.5.
Define the group G: G contains the elements a₁, a₂, ..., aₖ. The ordering of the elements in G is a₁, a₂, ..., aₖ.
a₁=X₁+Y₁i
(Y₁i indicates that Y₁ is the value of the imaginary part of the complex number a₁)
a₂=X₂+Y₂i
..
aₖ=Xₖ+Yₖi
Define the group H: H contains the elements b₁, b₂, ..., bₖ. The ordering of the elements in H is b₁, b₂, ..., bₖ.
b₁=X₁+Z₁i
(Z₁i indicates that Z₁ is the value of the imaginary part of the complex number b₁)
b₂=X₂+Z₂i
..
bₖ=Xₖ+Zₖi
Assign all elements in group G to subgroup G-A and subgroup G-B using a specific random allocation method Y, ensuring that the number of elements in subgroup G-A is equal to the number of elements in subgroup G-B.
Using the same allocation method Y, assign all elements in group H to subgroup H-A and subgroup H-C, so that the number of elements in subgroup H-A is equal to the number of elements in subgroup H-C.
We can employ different allocation methods.
When the absolute value of the difference between the sum of the imaginary parts in subgroup H-C and that in subgroup H-A is the maximum value (denoted as m₁) or the minimum value (denoted as m₂), and this maximum m₁ (or minimum m₂) is unique among all possible allocation schemes, we denote this allocation method as K (for the maximum case) or K* (for the minimum case), respectively.
Allocation method K (or K*) must also satisfy the following conditions:
1. When allocation is performed using method K (or K*), the absolute value n₁ of the difference between the sum of the real parts in subgroup G-B and subgroup G-A, or equivalently the absolute value of the difference between the sum of the real parts in subgroup H-C and subgroup H-A, must be unique and neither a maximum nor a minimum.
2. When allocation is performed using method K (or K*), the absolute value n₂ of the difference between the sum of the imaginary parts in subgroup G-B and subgroup G-A must be neither a maximum nor a minimum.
Allocation method K (or K*) can be carried out with the bubble sort algorithm. Since bubble sort is a polynomial-time algorithm, it is a problem in class P.
Definition 2.6.
Proposition P(b) is formulated as: What allocation method can be used to make the absolute value of the difference between the sum of the imaginary parts in subgroup H-C and that in subgroup H-A reach the maximum value m₁ or the minimum value m₂?
Proposition P(a) is formulated as:Under what allocation method K is the absolute value n₁ of the difference between the sum of the real parts in subgroup G-B and subgroup G-A determined?
If Peano Arithmetic is expressed as X, then proposition Q is expressed as proposition Pb, and Pb Non-Deterministic Polynomial solvable problem.
If Peano Arithmetic is expressed as proposition P(N), then proposition Q is expressed as proposition Pa, and Pa is a polynomial-time solvable problem.
Thus Pa is a P non-equivalent transformation of Pb, and Pb is an NP non-equivalent transformation of Pa. That is, the relationship between Pa and Pb is neither P = NP nor P ≠ NP.

References

  1. Ernest Nagel and James R. Newman. Godel`s proof [M]. Tayaylor& Francis e-Library, y, 2004: 68-84.
  2. Ernest Nagel and James R. Newman. Godel`s proof [M]. Tayaylor& Francis e-Library, y, 2004: 87-89.
Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.
Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.
Prerpints.org logo

Preprints.org is a free preprint server supported by MDPI in Basel, Switzerland.

Subscribe

Disclaimer

Terms of Use

Privacy Policy

Privacy Settings

© 2026 MDPI (Basel, Switzerland) unless otherwise stated