truth-value semantics for classical propositional logic
In classical propositional logic, an interpretation of a well-formed formula (wff) is an assignment of truth (=1) or falsity (=0) to . Any interpreted wff is called a proposition.
An interpretation of all wffs over the variable set is then a Boolean function on . However, one needs to be careful, for we do not want both and be interpreted as true simultaneously (at least not in classical propositional logic)! The proper way to find an interpretation on the wffs is to start from the atoms.
Call any Boolean-valued function on a valuation on . We want to extend to a Boolean-valued function on of all wffs. The way this is done is similar to the construction of wffs; we build a sequence of functions, starting from on , next on , and so on… Finally, we take the union of all these “approximations” to arrive at . So how do we go from to ? We need to interpret and from the valuations of atoms and . In other words, we must also interpret logical connectives too.
Before doing this, we define a truth function for each of the logical connectives:
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for , define given by .
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for , define given by .
As we are trying to interpret (not) and (or), the choices for and are clear. The values are interpreted as the usual integers (so they can be subtracted and ordered, etc…). Hence and make sense.
Next, recall that are sets of wffs built up from wffs in (see construction of well-formed formulas for more detail). We define a function for each , as follows:
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suppose has been defined, we define given by
Finally, take to be the union of all the approximations:
Then, by unique readability of wffs, is an interpretation on .
Remark. If is included in the language of the logic (as the symbol for falsity), we also require that .
Remark can be viewed as an inductive set over with respect to the and , viewed as operations on . Furthermore, is freely generated by , since each can be partitioned into sets , , and , and each partition is non-empty. As a result, any valuation on uniquely extends to a valuation on .
Definitions. Let be wffs in .
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is true or satisfiable for some valuation if (otherwise, it is false for ).
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is true for every valuation , then is said to be valid (or tautologous). If is false for every , it is invalid. If is valid, we write .
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implies for a valuation if implies . semantically implies if implies for every valuation , and is denoted by .
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is equivalent to for if . They are semantically equivalent if they are equivalent for every , and written .
Semantical equivalence is an equivalence relation on .
The above can be easily generalized to sets of wffs. Let be a set of propositions.
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is true or satisfiable for if (otherwise, it is false for ).
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is valid if it is true for every ; it is invalid if it is false for every . If is valid, we write .
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implies for if implies . semantically implies if implies for every , and is denoted by .
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implies for if, for every , implies for . semantically implies if implies for every , and is denoted by .
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is equivalent to for if for some valuation , implies for and implies for . and are semantically equivalent if and , written .
Clearly, iff , and iff .
Title | truth-value semantics for classical propositional logic |
Canonical name | TruthvalueSemanticsForClassicalPropositionalLogic |
Date of creation | 2013-03-22 18:51:20 |
Last modified on | 2013-03-22 18:51:20 |
Owner | CWoo (3771) |
Last modified by | CWoo (3771) |
Numerical id | 20 |
Author | CWoo (3771) |
Entry type | Definition |
Classification | msc 03B05 |
Synonym | entail |
Defines | truth-value semantics |
Defines | valuation |
Defines | interpretation |
Defines | valid |
Defines | invalid |
Defines | satisfiable |