On folk theorems

In view of these quotatior~s one might be tempted m conclude simply than a {blk theorem is a ,general conclusion which has been proved and which is a traditional belief, ~egend, or custom current among common ~ople . The purpose of t, his paper is to refine this defimtion somewhaL adapting it to the purposes of the research community in computer science, Accordingly, we shall attempt to provide a reasonable definition of or, rather, criteria fbr ~btk theorems, followed by a detailed example illustrating the ideas, The latter endeavor might take one of two ~:~ ib te forms, We could take a piece of ~blklore and show thal it is a theorem, or take a theorem and show that it is ff~lklore. As an example of the first tbrm we could have shown that the statement P ~ NP, which is iblkiore, is also a theorem~ However, since we have resolved to inUoduce no new technical material in this pxaper~ and moreover, since researchers in our community seem to be less tamiliar with folklore than with theorems,

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