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In logic, proof by contradiction is a form of proof that establishes the truth or the validity of a proposition by showing that assuming the proposition to be false leads to a contradiction. Although it is quite freely used in mathematical proofs, not every school of mathematical thought accepts this kind of nonconstructive proof as universally ...
It is part of a broad class of indispensability arguments most commonly applied in the philosophy of mathematics, but which also includes arguments in the philosophy of language and ethics. [14] In the most general sense, indispensability arguments aim to support their conclusion based on the claim that the truth of the conclusion is ...
Logic is the formal science of using reason and is considered a branch of both philosophy and mathematics and to a lesser extent computer science.Logic investigates and classifies the structure of statements and arguments, both through the study of formal systems of inference and the study of arguments in natural language.
An argument is a set of premises together with a conclusion. [60] An inference is the process of reasoning from these premises to the conclusion. [43] But these terms are often used interchangeably in logic. Arguments are correct or incorrect depending on whether their premises support their conclusion.
Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics.Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory (also known as computability theory).
The Pythagorean theorem has at least 370 known proofs. [1]In mathematics and formal logic, a theorem is a statement that has been proven, or can be proven. [a] [2] [3] The proof of a theorem is a logical argument that uses the inference rules of a deductive system to establish that the theorem is a logical consequence of the axioms and previously proved theorems.
The corresponding conditional of a valid argument is a logical truth and the negation of its corresponding conditional is a contradiction. The conclusion is a necessary consequence of its premises. An argument that is not valid is said to be "invalid". An example of a valid (and sound) argument is given by the following well-known syllogism:
In logic and mathematics, a formal proof or derivation is a finite sequence of sentences (known as well-formed formulas when relating to formal language), each of which is an axiom, an assumption, or follows from the preceding sentences in the sequence, according to the rule of inference.