Abstract

In this paper, we explore the ‘equivalence principle’ : roughly, statements about mathematical objects should be invariant under an appropriate notion of equivalence for the kinds of objects under consideration. In set theoretic foundations, EP may not always hold: for instance, ‘1∈ℕ\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $$1 \in \mathbb {N}$$ \end{document}’ under isomorphism of sets. In univalent foundations, on the other hand, EP has been proven for many mathematical structures. We first give an overview of earlier attempts at designing foundations that satisfy EP. We then describe how univalent foundations validates EP.