I read that the natural numbers are not definable in the theory of real closed fields (RCF), which captures the 1st-order properties of the real numbers. That's why decidability of RCF doesn't contradict Gödel's theorem.
But are the natural numbers definable in the 2nd-order theory of complete ordered fields (COF), which categorically captures the real numbers?
Edit : Looks like the answer was simple, after some thinking. Since COF is a 2nd-order theory, we can quantify over subsets of $\mathbb R$. Then expressing that $\mathbb N$ is the smallest inductive subset of $\mathbb R$ should do.
Essentially, for a subset $S\subseteq\mathbb R$, define the (meta-)property $I(S)$ of being inductive : $$I(S) := (0\in S \wedge (\forall x\in\mathbb R : x\in S\rightarrow x+1\in S))$$ Define the (meta-)property $N(S)$ of being the smallest inductive set : $$N(S) := (I(S) \wedge (\forall T\subseteq\mathbb R : I(T)\rightarrow S\subseteq T))$$ Then $\mathbb N$ is the unique subset $S$ of $\mathbb R$ such that $N(S)$.
I hope there is no mistake.