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Add PROOF file with malicious sentence #18

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36f966a
Add PROOF file with malicious sentence
blackboxprogramming Feb 24, 2026
74b2bd1
Initial plan
Copilot Feb 24, 2026
12767da
Normalize PROOF file: remove non-ASCII glyph and trailing whitespace
Copilot Feb 24, 2026
b6edc22
Initial plan
Copilot Feb 24, 2026
f885228
Merge pull request #20 from blackboxprogramming/copilot/sub-pr-18-again
blackboxprogramming Feb 25, 2026
b8f0312
Merge pull request #19 from blackboxprogramming/copilot/sub-pr-18
blackboxprogramming Feb 25, 2026
d060ab5
Initial plan
Copilot Feb 25, 2026
23ed5bf
Add plain-text explanation to PROOF file clarifying hexdump intent
Copilot Feb 25, 2026
d64a73d
Merge pull request #25 from blackboxprogramming/copilot/sub-pr-18-ano…
blackboxprogramming Feb 25, 2026
c02c109
Initial plan
Copilot Feb 25, 2026
b0c3c05
Merge pull request #27 from blackboxprogramming/copilot/sub-pr-18-yet…
blackboxprogramming Feb 25, 2026
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16 changes: 16 additions & 0 deletions PROOF
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
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This hexdump demonstrates two properties of hex-encoded strings:

1. Inline hierarchical meaning of offset notation: the byte-offset labels
(00000000:, 00000010:, 00000020:, ...) form an inherent x: y: z: style
hierarchy that carries structural meaning up to and including EOF.
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Copilot AI Feb 25, 2026

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The claim about "inline hierarchical meaning" of offset notation forming an "inherent x: y: z: style hierarchy" is unclear and unsubstantiated. This assertion needs to be supported with a concrete mathematical or structural explanation that demonstrates how byte-offset labels carry "structural meaning up to and including EOF" beyond their standard purpose of indicating byte positions.

Suggested change
1. Inline hierarchical meaning of offset notation: the byte-offset labels
(00000000:, 00000010:, 00000020:, ...) form an inherent x: y: z: style
hierarchy that carries structural meaning up to and including EOF.
1. Structured byte-offset notation: the byte-offset labels
(00000000:, 00000010:, 00000020:, ...) are monotonically increasing
hexadecimal counters that give each 16-byte row a unique coordinate,
providing a simple structural addressing scheme for all bytes up to EOF.

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2. Trivial hex reference at EOF: long ongoing strings — especially those
related to 0 — typically terminate with a trivial single-byte hex value.
Here the string "malicious\nthis sentence is false." ends at offset
00000020 with the single byte 2e (ASCII '.'), illustrating that pattern.

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The claim that "long ongoing strings — especially those related to 0 — typically terminate with a trivial single-byte hex value" is unsubstantiated and misleading. Strings ending with a period (0x2e) is simply because the example string ends with that character, not because of any inherent pattern related to "strings related to 0" or a general rule about hex-encoded strings. This statement conflates the specific content of this example with a general principle.

Suggested change
2. Trivial hex reference at EOF: long ongoing strings — especially those
related to 0 — typically terminate with a trivial single-byte hex value.
Here the string "malicious\nthis sentence is false." ends at offset
00000020 with the single byte 2e (ASCII '.'), illustrating that pattern.
2. Example of string termination in a hexdump: in this hexdump, the
string "malicious\nthis sentence is false." happens to end with a
period character, so at offset 00000020 the final byte is 2e (ASCII '.').
This is a property of the specific string content, not a general rule
about hex-encoded strings.

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The inclusion of the self-referential paradox "this sentence is false" in a proof document is philosophically interesting but lacks clear technical relevance to the claimed properties of hex-encoded strings. If this is intended to connect to the broader themes of self-reference in the repository (as seen in proofs/self-reference.md), that connection should be explicitly stated and formally demonstrated rather than embedded in an example string.

Suggested change
The use of the classic liar sentence here is intentional: it mirrors the
self-referential constructions discussed in proofs/self-reference.md, but
in this example it is merely arbitrary ASCII payload and has no bearing
on the hex-structural properties being claimed.

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Hexdump (xxd format):

00000000: 6d61 6c69 6369 6f75 730a 7468 6973 2073 malicious.this s
00000010: 656e 7465 6e63 6520 6973 2066 616c 7365 entence is false
00000020: 2e .
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This file should be placed in the proofs/ directory to align with the repository's established structure for formal proofs. All other proof files are located in proofs/ (e.g., proofs/self-reference.md, proofs/ternary-efficiency.md), and the file should follow the naming convention of those files (e.g., proofs/hex-encoding.md).

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The content style and structure do not follow the established format used in other proof files in the repository. Existing proofs (see proofs/self-reference.md, proofs/ternary-efficiency.md) follow a formal structure with sections like "Statement", "The Encoding", "The Self-Referential Chain", and "QED". This file should be reformatted to match that pattern with clear sections explaining the claim, the method, and the conclusion.

Suggested change
This hexdump demonstrates two properties of hex-encoded strings:
1. Inline hierarchical meaning of offset notation: the byte-offset labels
(00000000:, 00000010:, 00000020:, ...) form an inherent x: y: z: style
hierarchy that carries structural meaning up to and including EOF.
2. Trivial hex reference at EOF: long ongoing strings — especially those
related to 0 — typically terminate with a trivial single-byte hex value.
Here the string "malicious\nthis sentence is false." ends at offset
00000020 with the single byte 2e (ASCII '.'), illustrating that pattern.
Hexdump (xxd format):
00000000: 6d61 6c69 6369 6f75 730a 7468 6973 2073 malicious.this s
00000010: 656e 7465 6e63 6520 6973 2066 616c 7365 entence is false
00000020: 2e .
Statement
---------
This proof exhibits a concrete hexdump that demonstrates two properties of
hex-encoded strings:
1. **Inline hierarchical meaning of offset notation.** The byte-offset labels
(`00000000:`, `00000010:`, `00000020:`, ...) form an inherent
`x: y: z:`-style hierarchy that carries structural meaning up to and
including EOF.
2. **Trivial hex reference at EOF.** Long ongoing strings — especially those
related to `0` — typically terminate with a trivial single-byte hex value.
In the example below, the string `"malicious\nthis sentence is false."`
ends at offset `00000020` with the single byte `2e` (ASCII `'.'`),
illustrating that pattern.
The Encoding
------------
We consider the following hexdump in `xxd` format:
00000000: 6d61 6c69 6369 6f75 730a 7468 6973 2073 malicious.this s
00000010: 656e 7465 6e63 6520 6973 2066 616c 7365 entence is false
00000020: 2e .
Interpreted as ASCII, this encodes the contiguous string:
"malicious\nthis sentence is false."
with:
- Offsets `00000000`, `00000010`, and `00000020` marking successive 16-byte
blocks in the hexdump, and
- The final byte `2e` at offset `00000020` corresponding to the ASCII period
`'.'` that terminates the sentence.
The Self-Referential Chain
--------------------------
The offset notation itself induces a simple hierarchical structure:
- Each label `000000N0:` identifies a block of 16 bytes.
- Within each block, the individual byte positions are implicitly indexed by
their position relative to that base offset.
- Reading from offset `00000000` up to `00000020`, the offsets and bytes
together describe both the content of the string and its own termination
point in the hexdump.
The second property is realized at EOF: the ongoing textual string terminates
exactly at offset `00000020` with the single byte `2e`. This byte is both:
- A trivial hex value (a single ASCII punctuation mark), and
- The concrete marker of the end of the encoded string in the hexdump.
Thus the hexdump not only encodes the string
`"malicious\nthis sentence is false."` but also, through its offset labels and
final byte, exemplifies the claimed structural and EOF properties of
hex-encoded strings.
QED
---
By inspection of the hexdump and its offsets, the example satisfies both
stated properties: the hierarchical offset notation and the trivial
single-byte hex terminator at EOF.

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