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Open Formula
An open formula is a formula that contains at least one free variable. An open formula does not have a truth value assigned to it, in contrast with a closed formula which constitutes a proposition and thus can have a truth value like ''true'' or ''false''. An open formula can be transformed into a closed formula by applying a quantifier for each free variable. This transformation is called capture of the free variables to make them bound variables. For example, when reasoning about natural numbers, the formula "''x''+2 > ''y''" is open, since it contains the free variables ''x'' and ''y''. In contrast, the formula " ∃''y'' ∀''x'': ''x''+2 > ''y''" is closed, and has truth value ''true''. Open formulas are often used in rigorous mathematical definitions of properties, like :"''x'' is an aunt of ''y'' if, for some person ''z'', ''z'' is a parent of ''y'', and ''x'' is a sister of ''z''" (with free variables ''x'', ''y'', and bound variable ''z'') defining the notion of "aunt" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formula (logic)
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. The abbreviation wff is pronounced "woof", or sometimes "wiff", "weff", or "whiff". 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free Variable
In mathematics, and in other disciplines involving formal languages, including mathematical logic and computer science, a variable may be said to be either free or bound. Some older books use the terms real variable and apparent variable for free variable and bound variable, respectively. 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. 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. An instance of a variable symbol is ''bound'', in contrast, if the value of that variable symbol has been bound to a specific value or range of va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Truth Value
In logic and mathematics, a truth value, sometimes called a logical value, is a value indicating the relation of a proposition to truth, which in classical logic has only two possible values ('' true'' or '' false''). Truth values are used in computing as well as various types of logic. Computing In some programming languages, any expression can be evaluated in a context that expects a Boolean data type. Typically (though this varies by programming language) expressions like the number zero, the empty string, empty lists, and null are treated as false, and strings with content (like "abc"), other numbers, and objects evaluate to true. Sometimes these classes of expressions are called falsy and truthy. For example, in Lisp, nil, the empty list, is treated as false, and all other values are treated as true. In C, the number 0 or 0.0 is false, and all other values are treated as true. In JavaScript, the empty string (""), null, undefined, NaN, +0, −0 and false are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sentence (logic)
In mathematical logic, a sentence (or closed formula)Edgar Morscher, "Logical Truth and Logical Form", ''Grazer Philosophische Studien'' 82(1), pp. 77–90. of a predicate logic is a Boolean-valued well-formed formula with no free variables. A sentence can be viewed as expressing a proposition, something that ''must'' be true or false. The restriction of having no free variables is needed to make sure that sentences can have concrete, fixed truth values: as the free variables of a (general) formula can range over several values, the truth value of such a formula may vary. Sentences without any logical connectives or quantifiers in them are known as atomic sentences; by analogy to atomic formula. Sentences are then built up out of atomic sentences by applying connectives and quantifiers. A set of sentences is called a theory; thus, individual sentences may be called theorems. To properly evaluate the truth (or falsehood) of a sentence, one must make reference to an interpr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural Number
In mathematics, the natural numbers are the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, and so on, possibly excluding 0. Some start counting with 0, defining the natural numbers as the non-negative integers , while others start with 1, defining them as the positive integers Some authors acknowledge both definitions whenever convenient. Sometimes, the whole numbers are the natural numbers as well as zero. In other cases, the ''whole numbers'' refer to all of the integers, including negative integers. The counting numbers are another term for the natural numbers, particularly in primary education, and are ambiguous as well although typically start at 1. The natural numbers are used for counting things, like "there are ''six'' coins on the table", in which case they are called ''cardinal numbers''. They are also used to put things in order, like "this is the ''third'' largest city in the country", which are called ''ordinal numbers''. Natural numbers are also used as labels, like Number (sports), jersey ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Existential Quantification
Existentialism is a family of philosophy, philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an Authenticity (philosophy), authentic life despite the apparent Absurdity#The Absurd, absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence. In examining meaning of life, meaning, purpose, and value (ethics), value, existentialist thought often includes concepts such as existential crisis, existential crises, Angst#Existentialist angst, angst, courage, and freedom. Existentialism is associated with several 19th- and 20th-century European philosophers who shared an emphasis on the human subject, despite often profound differences in thought. Among the 19th-century figures now associated with existentialism are philosophers Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, as well as novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, all of whom critiqued rationalism and concerned themselves with the problem of meaning (philosophy), meaning. The word ''existentialism'', however, was not coin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Universal Quantification
In mathematical logic, a universal quantification is a type of quantifier, a logical constant which is interpreted as "given any", "for all", "for every", or "given an arbitrary element". It expresses that a predicate can be satisfied by every member of a domain of discourse. In other words, it is the predication of a property or relation to every member of the domain. It asserts that a predicate within the scope of a universal quantifier is true of every value of a predicate variable. It is usually denoted by the turned A (∀) logical operator symbol, which, when used together with a predicate variable, is called a universal quantifier ("", "", or sometimes by "" alone). Universal quantification is distinct from ''existential'' quantification ("there exists"), which only asserts that the property or relation holds for at least one member of the domain. Quantification in general is covered in the article on quantification (logic). The universal quantifier is en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prime Number
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a Product (mathematics), product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways of writing it as a product, or , involve 5 itself. However, 4 is composite because it is a product (2 × 2) in which both numbers are smaller than 4. Primes are central in number theory because of the fundamental theorem of arithmetic: every natural number greater than 1 is either a prime itself or can be factorization, factorized as a product of primes that is unique up to their order. The property of being prime is called primality. A simple but slow primality test, method of checking the primality of a given number , called trial division, tests whether is a multiple of any integer between 2 and . Faster algorithms include the Miller–Rabin primality test, which is fast but has a small chance of error ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fermat Number
In mathematics, a Fermat number, named after Pierre de Fermat (1601–1665), the first known to have studied them, is a natural number, positive integer of the form:F_ = 2^ + 1, where ''n'' is a non-negative integer. The first few Fermat numbers are: 3 (number), 3, 5 (number), 5, 17 (number), 17, 257 (number), 257, 65537 (number), 65537, 4294967297, 18446744073709551617, 340282366920938463463374607431768211457, ... . If 2''k'' + 1 is Prime number, prime and , then ''k'' itself must be a power of 2, so is a Fermat number; such primes are called Fermat primes. , the only known Fermat primes are , , , , and . Basic properties The Fermat numbers satisfy the following recurrence relations: : F_ = (F_-1)^+1 : F_ = F_ \cdots F_ + 2 for ''n'' ≥ 1, : F_ = F_ + 2^F_ \cdots F_ : F_ = F_^2 - 2(F_-1)^2 for . Each of these relations can be proved by mathematical induction. From the second equation, we can deduce Goldbach's theorem (named after Christian Goldbach): no two Fermat numbe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First-order Logic
First-order logic, also called predicate logic, predicate calculus, or quantificational logic, is a collection of formal systems used in mathematics, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science. First-order logic uses quantified variables over non-logical objects, and allows the use of sentences that contain variables. Rather than propositions such as "all humans are mortal", in first-order logic one can have expressions in the form "for all ''x'', if ''x'' is a human, then ''x'' is mortal", where "for all ''x"'' is a quantifier, ''x'' is a variable, and "... ''is a human''" and "... ''is mortal''" are predicates. This distinguishes it from propositional logic, which does not use quantifiers or relations; in this sense, propositional logic is the foundation of first-order logic. A theory about a topic, such as set theory, a theory for groups,A. Tarski, ''Undecidable Theories'' (1953), p. 77. Studies in Logic and the Foundation of Mathematics, North-Holland or a formal theory o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Higher-order Logic
In mathematics and logic, a higher-order logic (abbreviated HOL) is a form of logic that is distinguished from first-order logic by additional quantifiers and, sometimes, stronger semantics. Higher-order logics with their standard semantics are more expressive, but their model-theoretic properties are less well-behaved than those of first-order logic. The term "higher-order logic" is commonly used to mean higher-order simple predicate logic. Here "simple" indicates that the underlying type theory is the ''theory of simple types'', also called the ''simple theory of types''. Leon Chwistek and Frank P. Ramsey proposed this as a simplification of ''ramified theory of types'' specified in the '' Principia Mathematica'' by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell. ''Simple types'' is sometimes also meant to exclude polymorphic and dependent types. Quantification scope First-order logic quantifies only variables that range over individuals; '' second-order logic'', also qua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quantifier (logic)
In logic, a quantifier is an operator that specifies how many individuals in the domain of discourse satisfy an open formula. For instance, the universal quantifier \forall in the first-order formula \forall x P(x) expresses that everything in the domain satisfies the property denoted by P. On the other hand, the existential quantifier \exists in the formula \exists x P(x) expresses that there exists something in the domain which satisfies that property. A formula where a quantifier takes widest scope is called a quantified formula. A quantified formula must contain a bound variable and a subformula specifying a property of the referent of that variable. The most commonly used quantifiers are \forall and \exists. These quantifiers are standardly defined as duals; in classical logic: each can be defined in terms of the other using negation. They can also be used to define more complex quantifiers, as in the formula \neg \exists x P(x) which expresses that nothing has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
