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A propositional formula may also be called a propositional expression, a sentence, [1] or a sentential formula. A propositional formula is constructed from simple propositions, such as "five is greater than three" or propositional variables such as p and q, using connectives or logical operators such as NOT, AND, OR, or IMPLIES; for example:
Propositional functions are useful in set theory for the formation of sets. For example, in 1903 Bertrand Russell wrote in The Principles of Mathematics (page 106): "...it has become necessary to take propositional function as a primitive notion. Later Russell examined the problem of whether propositional functions were predicative or not, and ...
The propositional calculus [a] is a branch of logic. [1] It is also called propositional logic, [2] statement logic, [1] sentential calculus, [3] sentential logic, [4] [1] or sometimes zeroth-order logic. [b] [6] [7] [8] Sometimes, it is called first-order propositional logic [9] to contrast it with System F, but it should not be confused with ...
Example. In a given propositional logic, a formula can be defined as follows: Every propositional variable is a formula. Given a formula X, the negation ¬X is a formula. Given two formulas X and Y, and a binary connective b (such as the logical conjunction ∧), the expression (X b Y) is a formula. (Note the parentheses.)
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.
An atomic formula is a formula that contains no logical connectives nor quantifiers, or equivalently a formula that has no strict subformulas. The precise form of atomic formulas depends on the formal system under consideration; for propositional logic, for example, the atomic formulas are the propositional variables.
A formula consists of propositional variables connected by logical connectives, built up in such a way that the truth of the overall formula can be deduced from the truth or falsity of each variable. A valuation is a function that assigns each propositional variable to either T (for truth) or F (for falsity).
A Horn formula is a propositional formula formed by conjunction of Horn clauses. Horn satisfiability is actually one of the "hardest" or "most expressive" problems which is known to be computable in polynomial time, in the sense that it is a P-complete problem. [2] The Horn satisfiability problem can also be asked for propositional many-valued ...