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Predicate (mathematics)
In logic, a predicate is a symbol which represents a property or a relation. For instance, in the first order formula P(a), the symbol P is a predicate which applies to the individual constant a. Similarly, in the formula R(a,b), R is a predicate which applies to the individual constants a and b. In the semantics of logic, predicates are interpreted as relations. For instance, in a standard semantics for first-order logic, the formula R(a,b) would be true on an interpretation if the entities denoted by a and b stand in the relation denoted by R. Since predicates are non-logical symbols, they can denote different relations depending on the interpretation used to interpret them. While first-order logic only includes predicates which apply to individual constants, other logics may allow predicates which apply to other predicates. Predicates in different systems * In propositional logic, atomic formulas are sometimes regarded as zero-place predicates In a sense, these are nullar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematical Logic
Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory. Research in mathematical logic commonly addresses the mathematical properties of formal systems of logic such as their expressive or deductive power. However, it can also include uses of logic to characterize correct mathematical reasoning or to establish foundations of mathematics. Since its inception, mathematical logic has both contributed to and been motivated by the study of foundations of mathematics. This study began in the late 19th century with the development of axiomatic frameworks for geometry, arithmetic, and analysis. In the early 20th century it was shaped by David Hilbert's program to prove the consistency of foundational theories. Results of Kurt Gödel, Gerhard Gentzen, and others provided partial resolution to the program, and clarified the issues involved in proving consistency. Work in set theory sho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Set-builder Notation
In set theory and its applications to logic, mathematics, and computer science, set-builder notation is a mathematical notation for describing a set by enumerating its elements, or stating the properties that its members must satisfy. Defining sets by properties is also known as set comprehension, set abstraction or as defining a set's intension. Sets defined by enumeration A set can be described directly by enumerating all of its elements between curly brackets, as in the following two examples: * \ is the set containing the four numbers 3, 7, 15, and 31, and nothing else. * \=\ is the set containing , , and , and nothing else (there is no order among the elements of a set). This is sometimes called the "roster method" for specifying a set. When it is desired to denote a set that contains elements from a regular sequence, an ellipses notation may be employed, as shown in the next examples: * \ is the set of integers between 1 and 100 inclusive. * \ is the set of natur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Well-formed Formula
In mathematical logic, propositional logic and predicate logic, a well-formed formula, abbreviated WFF or wff, often simply formula, is a finite sequence of symbols from a given alphabet that is part of a formal language. A formal language can be identified with the set of formulas in the language. A formula is a syntactic object that can be given a semantic meaning by means of an interpretation. Two key uses of formulas are in propositional logic and predicate logic. Introduction A key use of formulas is in propositional logic and predicate logic such as first-order logic. In those contexts, a formula is a string of symbols φ for which it makes sense to ask "is φ true?", once any free variables in φ have been instantiated. In formal logic, proofs can be represented by sequences of formulas with certain properties, and the final formula in the sequence is what is proven. Although the term "formula" may be used for written marks (for instance, on a piece of paper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Truthbearer
A truth-bearer is an entity that is said to be either true or false and nothing else. The thesis that some things are true while others are false has led to different theories about the nature of these entities. Since there is divergence of opinion on the matter, the term ''truth-bearer'' is used to be neutral among the various theories. Truth-bearer candidates include propositions, sentences, sentence-tokens, statements, beliefs, thoughts, intuitions, utterances, and judgements but different authors exclude one or more of these, deny their existence, argue that they are true only in a derivative sense, assert or assume that the terms are synonymous, or seek to avoid addressing their distinction or do not clarify it. Introduction Some distinctions and terminology as used in this article, based on Wolfram 1989 (Chapter 2 Section1) follow. ''It should be understood that the terminology described is not always used in the ways set out, and it is introduced solely for the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Predicate Variable
In mathematical logic, a predicate variable is a predicate letter which functions as a "placeholder" for a relation (between terms), but which has not been specifically assigned any particular relation (or meaning). Common symbols for denoting predicate variables include capital roman letters such as P, Q and R, or lower case roman letters, e.g., x. In first-order logic, they can be more properly called metalinguistic variables. In higher-order logic, predicate variables correspond to propositional variables which can stand for well-formed formulas of the same logic, and such variables can be quantified by means of (at least) second-order quantifiers. Notation Predicate variables should be distinguished from predicate constants, which could be represented either with a different (exclusive) set of predicate letters, or by their own symbols which really do have their own specific meaning in their domain of discourse: e.g. =, \ \in , \ \le,\ <, \ \sub,... . If letters a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Predicate Functor Logic
In mathematical logic, predicate functor logic (PFL) is one of several ways to express first-order logic (also known as predicate logic) by purely algebraic means, i.e., without quantified variables. PFL employs a small number of algebraic devices called predicate functors (or predicate modifiers) that operate on terms to yield terms. PFL is mostly the invention of the logician and philosopher Willard Quine. Motivation The source for this section, as well as for much of this entry, is Quine (1976). Quine proposed PFL as a way of algebraizing first-order logic in a manner analogous to how Boolean algebra algebraizes propositional logic. He designed PFL to have exactly the expressive power of first-order logic with identity. Hence the metamathematics of PFL are exactly those of first-order logic with no interpreted predicate letters: both logics are sound, complete, and undecidable. Most work Quine published on logic and mathematics in the last 30 years of his life touched on PFL i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opaque Predicate
In computer programming, an opaque predicate is a predicate, an expression that evaluates to either "true" or "false", for which the outcome is known by the programmer ''a priori'', but which, for a variety of reasons, still needs to be evaluated at run time. Opaque predicates have been used as watermarks, as they will be identifiable in a program's executable. They can also be used to prevent an overzealous optimizer from optimizing away a portion of a program. Another use is in obfuscating the control or dataflow of a program to make reverse engineering Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ... harder. External links "A Method for Watermarking Java Programs via Opaque Predicates" Computer programming References [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multigrade Predicate
In mathematics and logic, plural quantification is the theory that an individual variable x may take on ''plural'', as well as singular, values. As well as substituting individual objects such as Alice, the number 1, the tallest building in London etc. for x, we may substitute both Alice and Bob, or all the numbers between 0 and 10, or all the buildings in London over 20 stories. The point of the theory is to give first-order logic the power of set theory, but without any " existential commitment" to such objects as sets. The classic expositions are Boolos 1984 and Lewis 1991. History The view is commonly associated with George Boolos, though it is older (see notably Simons 1982), and is related to the view of classes defended by John Stuart Mill and other nominalist philosophers. Mill argued that universals or "classes" are not a peculiar kind of thing, having an objective existence distinct from the individual objects that fall under them, but "is neither more nor less than ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free Variables And Bound Variables
In mathematics, and in other disciplines involving formal languages, including mathematical logic and computer science, a free variable is a notation (symbol) that specifies places in an expression where substitution may take place and is not a parameter of this or any container expression. Some older books use the terms real variable and apparent variable for free variable and bound variable, respectively. The idea is related to a placeholder (a symbol that will later be replaced by some value), or a wildcard character that stands for an unspecified symbol. In computer programming, the term free variable refers to variables used in a function that are neither local variables nor parameters of that function. The term non-local variable is often a synonym in this context. A bound variable, in contrast, is a variable that has been ''bound'' to a specific value or range of values in the domain of discourse or universe. This may be achieved through the use of logical quantif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classifying Topos
In mathematics, a classifying topos for some sort of structure is a topos ''T'' such that there is a natural equivalence between geometric morphisms from a cocomplete topos ''E'' to ''T'' and the category of models for the structure in ''E''. Examples *The classifying topos for objects of a topos is the topos of presheaves over the opposite of the category of finite sets. *The classifying topos for rings of a topos is the topos of presheaves over the opposite of the category of finitely presented rings. *The classifying topos for local rings of a topos is the topos of sheaves over the opposite of the category of finitely presented rings with the Zariski topology. *The classifying topos for linear orders with distinct largest and smallest elements of a topos is the topos of simplicial sets. *If ''G'' is a discrete group, the classifying topos for ''G''- torsors over a topos is the topos ''BG'' of ''G''-sets. *The classifying space of topological groups in homotopy theory In math ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Probability Distribution
In probability theory and statistics, a probability distribution is the mathematical function that gives the probabilities of occurrence of different possible outcomes for an experiment. It is a mathematical description of a random phenomenon in terms of its sample space and the probabilities of events (subsets of the sample space). For instance, if is used to denote the outcome of a coin toss ("the experiment"), then the probability distribution of would take the value 0.5 (1 in 2 or 1/2) for , and 0.5 for (assuming that the coin is fair). Examples of random phenomena include the weather conditions at some future date, the height of a randomly selected person, the fraction of male students in a school, the results of a survey to be conducted, etc. Introduction A probability distribution is a mathematical description of the probabilities of events, subsets of the sample space. The sample space, often denoted by \Omega, is the set of all possible outcomes of a rando ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Characteristic Function (probability Theory)
In probability theory and statistics, the characteristic function of any real-valued random variable completely defines its probability distribution. If a random variable admits a probability density function, then the characteristic function is the Fourier transform of the probability density function. Thus it provides an alternative route to analytical results compared with working directly with probability density functions or cumulative distribution functions. There are particularly simple results for the characteristic functions of distributions defined by the weighted sums of random variables. In addition to univariate distributions, characteristic functions can be defined for vector- or matrix-valued random variables, and can also be extended to more generic cases. The characteristic function always exists when treated as a function of a real-valued argument, unlike the moment-generating function. There are relations between the behavior of the characteristic func ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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