--- /dev/null
+(**************************************************************************)
+(* ___ *)
+(* ||M|| *)
+(* ||A|| A project by Andrea Asperti *)
+(* ||T|| *)
+(* ||I|| Developers: *)
+(* ||T|| The HELM team. *)
+(* ||A|| http://helm.cs.unibo.it *)
+(* \ / *)
+(* \ / This file is distributed under the terms of the *)
+(* v GNU General Public License Version 2 *)
+(* *)
+(**************************************************************************)
+
+include "ground/arith/pnat.ma".
+
+(* TRICHOTOMY OPERATOR FOR POSITIVE INTEGERS ********************************)
+
+rec definition ptri (A:Type[0]) p1 p2 a1 a2 a3 on p1 : A ≝
+ match p1 with
+ [ punit ⇒ match p2 with [ punit ⇒ a2 | psucc p2 ⇒ a1 ]
+ | psucc p1 ⇒ match p2 with [ punit ⇒ a3 | psucc p2 ⇒ ptri A p1 p2 a1 a2 a3 ]
+ ].
+
+(* Basic rewrites ***********************************************************)
+
+lemma ptri_unit_bi (A) (a1) (a2) (a3):
+ a2 = ptri A (𝟏) (𝟏) a1 a2 a3.
+// qed.
+
+lemma ptri_unit_succ (A) (a1) (a2) (a3) (p):
+ a1 = ptri A (𝟏) (↑p) a1 a2 a3.
+// qed.
+
+lemma ptri_succ_unit (A) (a1) (a2) (a3) (p):
+ a3 = ptri A (↑p) (𝟏) a1 a2 a3.
+// qed.
+
+lemma ptri_succ_bi (A) (a1) (a2) (a3) (p1) (p2):
+ ptri A (p1) (p2) a1 a2 a3 = ptri A (↑p1) (↑p2) a1 a2 a3.
+// qed.
+
+(* Advanced rewrites ********************************************************)
+
+lemma ptri_eq (A) (a1) (a2) (a3) (p): a2 = ptri A p p a1 a2 a3.
+#A #a1 #a2 #a3 #p elim p -p //
+qed.
+
+lemma ptri_f_tri (A) (B) (f) (a1) (a2) (a3) (p1) (p2):
+ f (ptri A p1 p2 a1 a2 a3) = ptri B p1 p2 (f a1) (f a2) (f a3).
+#A #B #f #a1 #a2 #a3 #p1
+elim p1 -p1 [| #p1 #IH ] * //
+qed.