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In propositional calculus, a propositional function or a predicate is a sentence expressed in a way that would assume the value of true or false, except that within the sentence there is a variable (x) that is not defined or specified (thus being a free variable), which leaves the statement undetermined.
A predicate is a statement or mathematical assertion that contains variables, sometimes referred to as predicate variables, and may be true or false depending on those variables’ value or values. In propositional logic, atomic formulas are sometimes regarded as zero-place predicates. [1] In a sense, these are nullary (i.e. 0-arity) predicates.
Relationships between predicates can be stated using logical connectives. For example, the first-order formula "if x is a philosopher, then x is a scholar", is a conditional statement with "x is a philosopher" as its hypothesis, and "x is a scholar" as its conclusion, which again needs specification of x in order to have a definite truth value.
A Boolean-valued function (sometimes called a predicate or a proposition) is a function of the type f : X → B, where X is an arbitrary set and where B is a Boolean domain, i.e. a generic two-element set, (for example B = {0, 1}), whose elements are interpreted as logical values, for example, 0 = false and 1 = true, i.e., a single bit of information.
Unlike first-order logic, propositional logic does not deal with non-logical objects, predicates about them, or quantifiers. However, all the machinery of propositional logic is included in first-order logic and higher-order logics. In this sense, propositional logic is the foundation of first-order logic and higher-order logic.
The internal structure of propositional variables contains predicate letters such as P and Q, in association with bound individual variables (e.g., x, y), individual constants such as a and b (singular terms from a domain of discourse D), ultimately taking a form such as Pa, aRb.(or with parenthesis, () and (,)).
The predicate calculus goes a step further than the propositional calculus to an "analysis of the inner structure of propositions" [4] It breaks a simple sentence down into two parts (i) its subject (the object (singular or plural) of discourse) and (ii) a predicate (a verb or possibly verb-clause that asserts a quality or attribute of the object(s)).
In logic, a clause is a propositional formula formed from a finite collection of literals (atoms or their negations) and logical connectives.A clause is true either whenever at least one of the literals that form it is true (a disjunctive clause, the most common use of the term), or when all of the literals that form it are true (a conjunctive clause, a less common use of the term).