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In mathematical logic and automated theorem proving, resolution is a rule of inference leading to a refutation-complete theorem-proving technique for sentences in propositional logic and first-order logic. For propositional logic, systematically applying the resolution rule acts as a decision procedure for formula unsatisfiability, solving the ...
A key use of formulas is in propositional logic and predicate logic such as first-order logic. In those contexts, a formula is a string of symbols φ for which it makes sense to ask "is φ true?", once any free variables in φ have been instantiated.
First-order logic also satisfies several metalogical theorems that make it amenable to analysis in proof theory, such as the Löwenheim–Skolem theorem and the compactness theorem. First-order logic is the standard for the formalization of mathematics into axioms, and is studied in the foundations of mathematics.
The role of variables in propositional logic (something that can be true or false) is played in first-order logic by predicates. Namely, a propositional formula can be expressed in first-order logic by replacing each propositional variable with a predicate of zero arity (i.e., a predicate with no arguments). Therefore, minimization is done on ...
In first-order logic, a predicate forms an atomic formula when applied to an appropriate number of terms. In set theory with the law of excluded middle , predicates are understood to be characteristic functions or set indicator functions (i.e., functions from a set element to a truth value ).
In this sense, propositional logic is the foundation of first-order logic and higher-order logic. Propositional logic is typically studied with a formal language, [c] in which propositions are represented by letters, which are called propositional variables. These are then used, together with symbols for connectives, to make propositional formula.
In mathematical logic, a formula of first-order logic is in Skolem normal form if it is in prenex normal form with only universal first-order quantifiers.. Every first-order formula may be converted into Skolem normal form while not changing its satisfiability via a process called Skolemization (sometimes spelled Skolemnization).
Truth-functional propositional logic and first-order predicate logic are semantically complete, but not syntactically complete (for example the propositional logic statement consisting of a single variable "a" is not a theorem, and neither is its negation, but these are not tautologies).