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Topos Uranos

Summary

This lesson opens the third unit of the course, devoted to semantics. It presents its six lessons and the thread that joins them, from the extension of a valuation to all formulas to the normal form algorithm and switching circuits; it places the unit on the path of the course, after deduction, which obtained formulas from others without attending to their meaning, and before metatheory, which will relate derivability Γ⊢φ\Gamma \vdash \varphi to semantic consequence Γ⊨φ\Gamma \models \varphi; it explains why a single clause, that of the primitive connective, suffices to give meaning to the whole language, and why truth values are calculated with polynomials; it shows with a four-row table what semantics decides without searching for deductions or inventing markings; it specifies what is taken from the previous units and gives advice for studying it.

Learning objectives

  1. Describe the sequence of the six lessons of the unit and explain which results of each one the next one uses.
  2. Place semantics on the path of the course, distinguish semantic consequence Γ⊨φ\Gamma \models \varphi from derivability Γ⊢φ\Gamma \vdash \varphi and explain what soundness and completeness will assert.
  3. Explain why bivalence and truth-functionality make it possible to give meaning to all formulas with a single clause, and decide with a truth table whether an inference schema is valid.
  4. Recognize what the unit takes from the previous ones, distinguish the signs ==, ≡\eqsem, ⊣⊢\dashv\vdash, ↔\leftrightarrow and ⇔\Leftrightarrow, and organize study starting from the entry assessment.

Entry assessment

Before working through the unit, it is worth measuring the starting point. This assessment is a self-assessment: it is not graded, and its only purpose is to guide your study. Its fifteen questions are of two kinds. The first four concern what the unit takes for granted from the first unit: definition by recursion and unique readability, the official abbreviations, the cases of an induction on complexity and the substitution of a subformula; anyone who misses one of them should review, before going on, the lesson that the question names. The remaining eleven cover, in order, the six lessons of this unit: two the first, two the second, one the third and two each of the last three. Anyone who has never studied the semantics of a formal language should not expect to get them right, and that does not matter: each answer, right or wrong, explains the point and names the lesson that deals with it. The same skills are measured again at the end, in the synthesis lesson.

Entry assessment

Before starting the unit, measure your starting point. It is a short self-assessment: it is not graded and its result is stored only in your browser.

  1. Question 1From earlier unitsA function on formulas is defined by giving its value at each variable and a rule that computes the value of ∙φψ\sigI\varphi\psi from φ\varphi, from ψ\psi and from the values of both. What guarantees that exactly one function is thus defined?

  2. Question 2From earlier unitsWith the official abbreviations of the course, which formula is (φ∨φ)(\varphi \vee \varphi)?

  3. Question 3From earlier unitsTo prove by induction on complexity that all formulas have a certain property, which cases must be treated?

  4. Question 4From earlier unitsWhen substituting the formula α\alpha by the formula β\beta in φ\varphi, according to the definition of the lesson on induction, which occurrences of α\alpha are changed?

  5. Question 5A valuation gives pp the value 00 and qq the value 11. If (φ↓ψ)(\varphi \downarrow \psi) has the value 11 exactly when φ\varphi and ψ\psi have the value 00, what value does the formula (p↓(q↓p))(p \downarrow (q \downarrow p)) take?

  6. Question 6What does ⊭φ\not\models \varphi mean?

  7. Question 7It is known that Γ∪{φ}⊨ψ\Gamma \cup \{\varphi\} \models \psi: every valuation that satisfies Γ\Gamma and φ\varphi satisfies ψ\psi. What follows?

  8. Question 8The formula (v1∨¬v1)(v_{1} \vee \neg v_{1}) is valid. Which of the following formulas is valid by the uniform substitution theorem?

  9. Question 9By the convention of the course, which formula does the expression v1∧v2∧v3v_{1} \wedge v_{2} \wedge v_{3}, written without parentheses, designate?

  10. Question 10A truth function of two arguments assigns a value, 00 or 11, to each of the four rows (1,1)(1, 1), (1,0)(1, 0), (0,1)(0, 1) and (0,0)(0, 0). How many truth functions of two arguments are there?

  11. Question 11Can a formula written only with ∧\wedge and ∨\vee from the variables have the value 00 in the valuation that gives 11 to all the variables?

  12. Question 12A literal is a variable or the negation of a variable. Which of the following formulas is a literal?

  13. Question 13Is the conjunctive normal form (¬v1∨v2∨v1)∧(v3∨¬v2)(\neg v_{1} \vee v_{2} \vee v_{1}) \wedge (v_{3} \vee \neg v_{2}) valid?

  14. Question 14To bring a formula to disjunctive normal form, conjunction is distributed over disjunction. Which is the correct rule?

  15. Question 15A circuit has two direct switches, of the levers pp and qq, joined in series, and that block is in parallel with a direct switch of the lever rr. Which formula says when it conducts?