3,966 research outputs found
Undecidable First-Order Theories of Affine Geometries
Tarski initiated a logic-based approach to formal geometry that studies
first-order structures with a ternary betweenness relation (\beta) and a
quaternary equidistance relation (\equiv). Tarski established, inter alia, that
the first-order (FO) theory of (R^2,\beta,\equiv) is decidable. Aiello and van
Benthem (2002) conjectured that the FO-theory of expansions of (R^2,\beta) with
unary predicates is decidable. We refute this conjecture by showing that for
all n>1, the FO-theory of monadic expansions of (R^2,\beta) is \Pi^1_1-hard and
therefore not even arithmetical. We also define a natural and comprehensive
class C of geometric structures (T,\beta), where T is a subset of R^2, and show
that for each structure (T,\beta) in C, the FO-theory of the class of monadic
expansions of (T,\beta) is undecidable. We then consider classes of expansions
of structures (T,\beta) with restricted unary predicates, for example finite
predicates, and establish a variety of related undecidability results. In
addition to decidability questions, we briefly study the expressivity of
universal MSO and weak universal MSO over expansions of (R^n,\beta). While the
logics are incomparable in general, over expansions of (R^n,\beta), formulae of
weak universal MSO translate into equivalent formulae of universal MSO.
This is an extended version of a publication in the proceedings of the 21st
EACSL Annual Conferences on Computer Science Logic (CSL 2012).Comment: 21 pages, 3 figure
Monadic Second-Order Logic with Arbitrary Monadic Predicates
We study Monadic Second-Order Logic (MSO) over finite words, extended with
(non-uniform arbitrary) monadic predicates. We show that it defines a class of
languages that has algebraic, automata-theoretic and machine-independent
characterizations. We consider the regularity question: given a language in
this class, when is it regular? To answer this, we show a substitution property
and the existence of a syntactical predicate.
We give three applications. The first two are to give very simple proofs that
the Straubing Conjecture holds for all fragments of MSO with monadic
predicates, and that the Crane Beach Conjecture holds for MSO with monadic
predicates. The third is to show that it is decidable whether a language
defined by an MSO formula with morphic predicates is regular.Comment: Conference version: MFCS'14, Mathematical Foundations of Computer
Science Journal version: ToCL'17, Transactions on Computational Logi
Decidability of the Clark's Completion Semantics for Monadic Programs and Queries
There are many different semantics for general logic programs (i.e. programs
that use negation in the bodies of clauses). Most of these semantics are Turing
complete (in a sense that can be made precise), implying that they are
undecidable. To obtain decidability one needs to put additional restrictions on
programs and queries. In logic programming it is natural to put restrictions on
the underlying first-order language. In this note we show the decidability of
the Clark's completion semantics for monadic general programs and queries.
To appear in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (TPLP
On Descriptive Complexity, Language Complexity, and GB
We introduce , a monadic second-order language for reasoning about
trees which characterizes the strongly Context-Free Languages in the sense that
a set of finite trees is definable in iff it is (modulo a
projection) a Local Set---the set of derivation trees generated by a CFG. This
provides a flexible approach to establishing language-theoretic complexity
results for formalisms that are based on systems of well-formedness constraints
on trees. We demonstrate this technique by sketching two such results for
Government and Binding Theory. First, we show that {\em free-indexation\/}, the
mechanism assumed to mediate a variety of agreement and binding relationships
in GB, is not definable in and therefore not enforcible by CFGs.
Second, we show how, in spite of this limitation, a reasonably complete GB
account of English can be defined in . Consequently, the language
licensed by that account is strongly context-free. We illustrate some of the
issues involved in establishing this result by looking at the definition, in
, of chains. The limitations of this definition provide some insight
into the types of natural linguistic principles that correspond to higher
levels of language complexity. We close with some speculation on the possible
significance of these results for generative linguistics.Comment: To appear in Specifying Syntactic Structures, papers from the Logic,
Structures, and Syntax workshop, Amsterdam, Sept. 1994. LaTeX source with
nine included postscript figure
Everything, and then some
On its intended interpretation, logical, mathematical and metaphysical discourse sometimes seems to involve absolutely unrestricted quantification. Yet our standard semantic theories do not allow for interpretations of a language as expressing absolute generality. A prominent strategy for defending absolute generality, influentially proposed by Timothy Williamson in his paper ‘Everything’ (2003), avails itself of a hierarchy of quantifiers of ever increasing orders to develop non-standard semantic theories that do provide for such interpretations. However, as emphasized by Øystein Linnebo and AgustÃn Rayo (2012), there is pressure on this view to extend the quantificational hierarchy beyond the finite level, and, relatedly, to allow for a cumulative conception of the hierarchy. In his recent book, Modal Logic as Metaphysics (2013), Williamson yields to that pressure. I show that the emerging cumulative higher-orderist theory has implications of a strongly generality-relativist flavour, and consequently undermines much of the spirit of generality absolutism that Williamson set out to defend
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