2,828 research outputs found
Logic Meets Algebra: the Case of Regular Languages
The study of finite automata and regular languages is a privileged meeting
point of algebra and logic. Since the work of Buchi, regular languages have
been classified according to their descriptive complexity, i.e. the type of
logical formalism required to define them. The algebraic point of view on
automata is an essential complement of this classification: by providing
alternative, algebraic characterizations for the classes, it often yields the
only opportunity for the design of algorithms that decide expressibility in
some logical fragment.
We survey the existing results relating the expressibility of regular
languages in logical fragments of MSO[S] with algebraic properties of their
minimal automata. In particular, we show that many of the best known results in
this area share the same underlying mechanics and rely on a very strong
relation between logical substitutions and block-products of pseudovarieties of
monoid. We also explain the impact of these connections on circuit complexity
theory.Comment: 37 page
Computabilities of Validity and Satisfiability in Probability Logics over Finite and Countable Models
The -logic (which is called E-logic in this paper) of
Kuyper and Terwijn is a variant of first order logic with the same syntax, in
which the models are equipped with probability measures and in which the
quantifier is interpreted as "there exists a set of measure
such that for each , ...." Previously, Kuyper and
Terwijn proved that the general satisfiability and validity problems for this
logic are, i) for rational , respectively
-complete and -hard, and ii) for ,
respectively decidable and -complete. The adjective "general" here
means "uniformly over all languages."
We extend these results in the scenario of finite models. In particular, we
show that the problems of satisfiability by and validity over finite models in
E-logic are, i) for rational , respectively
- and -complete, and ii) for , respectively
decidable and -complete. Although partial results toward the countable
case are also achieved, the computability of E-logic over countable
models still remains largely unsolved. In addition, most of the results, of
this paper and of Kuyper and Terwijn, do not apply to individual languages with
a finite number of unary predicates. Reducing this requirement continues to be
a major point of research.
On the positive side, we derive the decidability of the corresponding
problems for monadic relational languages --- equality- and function-free
languages with finitely many unary and zero other predicates. This result holds
for all three of the unrestricted, the countable, and the finite model cases.
Applications in computational learning theory, weighted graphs, and neural
networks are discussed in the context of these decidability and undecidability
results.Comment: 47 pages, 4 tables. Comments welcome. Fixed errors found by Rutger
Kuype
Changing a semantics: opportunism or courage?
The generalized models for higher-order logics introduced by Leon Henkin, and
their multiple offspring over the years, have become a standard tool in many
areas of logic. Even so, discussion has persisted about their technical status,
and perhaps even their conceptual legitimacy. This paper gives a systematic
view of generalized model techniques, discusses what they mean in mathematical
and philosophical terms, and presents a few technical themes and results about
their role in algebraic representation, calibrating provability, lowering
complexity, understanding fixed-point logics, and achieving set-theoretic
absoluteness. We also show how thinking about Henkin's approach to semantics of
logical systems in this generality can yield new results, dispelling the
impression of adhocness. This paper is dedicated to Leon Henkin, a deep
logician who has changed the way we all work, while also being an always open,
modest, and encouraging colleague and friend.Comment: 27 pages. To appear in: The life and work of Leon Henkin: Essays on
his contributions (Studies in Universal Logic) eds: Manzano, M., Sain, I. and
Alonso, E., 201
Lewis meets Brouwer: constructive strict implication
C. I. Lewis invented modern modal logic as a theory of "strict implication".
Over the classical propositional calculus one can as well work with the unary
box connective. Intuitionistically, however, the strict implication has greater
expressive power than the box and allows to make distinctions invisible in the
ordinary syntax. In particular, the logic determined by the most popular
semantics of intuitionistic K becomes a proper extension of the minimal normal
logic of the binary connective. Even an extension of this minimal logic with
the "strength" axiom, classically near-trivial, preserves the distinction
between the binary and the unary setting. In fact, this distinction and the
strong constructive strict implication itself has been also discovered by the
functional programming community in their study of "arrows" as contrasted with
"idioms". Our particular focus is on arithmetical interpretations of the
intuitionistic strict implication in terms of preservativity in extensions of
Heyting's Arithmetic.Comment: Our invited contribution to the collection "L.E.J. Brouwer, 50 years
later
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