Essay 1

LOG/MA 335

• This assignment should consist of a series of short essays. You should explain your
answer in complete sentences. Your word count for the entire assignment should be
between 300-700 words.

• If you need to attach formal proofs, attach a clearly labeled proof file or picture of a
derivation separately, and refer to your proof within your essay.

• Each section is equally weighted. You will be graded on the clarity of your explanations
first and the correctness of your explanations second.

• The essay should be uploaded to Moodle by October 20, 11 PM.

1. Review the definition of ambig-wff.

(a) Prove by induction that no ambig-wff begins with a binary connective, ends with a
negation sign, or has a negation sign immediately preceding a binary connective.
(b) Prove that A¬ → B is not an ambig-wff.

2. Review the definitions of soundness and completeness.

(a) Consider a logic FOL-2 that has the same proof theory and semantics as FOL, with
one difference: the meaning of ∧ is as follows:
ĥ(A ∧ B) = True just in case ĥ(A) = True.
(The proof rules for ∧ are the same as in FOL.) Show that FOL-2 is not sound.
(b) Consider a logic FOL-3 that has the same proof theory and semantics as FOL, with
one difference: the meaning of → is as follows:
ĥ(A → B) = True just in case ĥ(¬B) = True.
(The proof rules for → are the same as in FOL.) Show that FOL-3 is not complete.

3. Review the discussion of formally complete sets and formally consistent sets. Let
T be the set of sentences:

{P (a), ¬[P (a) ∨ Q(a)], [S(b) ∧ ¬Q(b)]}

(a) Is T formally consistent? Prove your answer.
(b) Is T formally complete? Prove your answer.