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In mathematical logic, a literal is an atomic formula (also known as an atom or prime formula) or its negation. [1] [2] The definition mostly appears in proof theory (of classical logic), e.g. in conjunctive normal form and the method of resolution. Literals can be divided into two types: [2] A positive literal is just an atom (e.g., ).
A constant coefficient, also known as constant term or simply constant, is a quantity either implicitly attached to the zeroth power of a variable or not attached to other variables in an expression; for example, the constant coefficients of the expressions above are the number 3 and the parameter c, involved in 3=c ⋅ x 0.
Two such formal polynomials are considered equal whenever their coefficients are the same. Sometimes these two concepts of equality disagree. Some authors reserve the word variable to mean an unknown or changing quantity, and strictly distinguish the concepts of variable and indeterminate. Other authors indiscriminately use the name variable ...
In the context of functions, the term variable refers commonly to the arguments of the functions. This is typically the case in sentences like "function of a real variable", "x is the variable of the function f : x ↦ f(x)", "f is a function of the variable x" (meaning that the argument of the function is referred to by the variable x).
In mathematics, the method of equating the coefficients is a way of solving a functional equation of two expressions such as polynomials for a number of unknown parameters. It relies on the fact that two expressions are identical precisely when corresponding coefficients are equal for each different type of term.
Algebra is the branch of mathematics that studies certain abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic operations other than the standard arithmetic operations, such as addition and multiplication.
A literal is either a variable (in which case it is called a positive literal) or the negation of a variable (called a negative literal). A clause is a disjunction of literals (or a single literal). A clause is called a Horn clause if it contains at most one positive literal.
Multiplication symbols are usually omitted, and implied, when there is no operator between two variables or terms, or when a coefficient is used. For example, 3 × x 2 is written as 3x 2, and 2 × x × y is written as 2xy. [5] Sometimes, multiplication symbols are replaced with either a dot or center-dot, so that x × y is written as either x.