What Are Logic Symbols and How Are They Used in the Object Language?

In summary: It's just a language that you're talking about.In summary, the conversation discusses different symbols and their meanings in logic, including logical connectives such as ⊃ and ≡, and metalogical symbols like |- and |=. The conversation also touches on the difference between the object language and metalanguage in logical discussions.
  • #1
penitor
3
0
Hi, new here but I see the people are very helpful, hoping I can take advantage of that.

Does anyone recognize the symbols ⊃, ≡, |, |–, –||–, |=, =||= ??
They are logical connectives, just different than the ones I know.

Help would be greatly appreciated as soon as possible.

Thank you.
 
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  • #2
⊃ is superset
≡ is identical or equivalent
I don't have a clue about the rest.
 
  • #3
thanks man, anyone else have ideas about the rest?
 
  • #4
The first one is not superset. Well it can be, but in a logical context, it is the horseshoe symbol, and stands for implication. Normally, if you're doing math or something like that, you'll use an arrow, but it's the same thing. The second one is material equivalence. Again, it is a logical connective so it relates sentences only. It is also used to mean other things in other contexts, but in logic, it means that if you have P = Q, then P and Q have the same truth value. The fourth symbol is what some books call "deductive entailment." If you have a set of sentences S and a sentence P, then S |- P means that given a deduction system (i.e. after specifying your logical axioms and rules of inference), you can derive the sentence P from the sentences in S. S |= P is something you might call "semantic entailment." If you're dealing strictly with propositional logic, you might call it "truth-functional entailment" and if you are dealing with predicate logic, you might call it "quantificational entailment." The last two definitions both mean "semantic entailment", but the semantics of propositional logic (logic where you just deal with logic connectives like OR, AND, IMPLIES, NOT, etc.) is different from the semantics of predicate logic (which include quantifiers like "for all x" and predicates). So S |= P means that for any interpretation that each sentence S is true, the sentence P is true.

The single turnstyle "|-" has to do with syntax. It has nothing to do, essentially, with what your sentences mean. Just stipulate a set of rules for manipulating symbols, and if you have some sentences S, where each sentence is just a string of symbols that adhere to some rules as to what counts as a proper string of symbols, then if you manipulate these sentences according to the rules, you can get another string of symbols P, and you can say S |- P. The double turnstyle has to do with semantics. You choose some way of interpreting your strings of symbols. Some symbols have a standard interpretation, like the logical connectives. But if you have a sentence P & Q, then P and Q can be interpreted to mean just about any English sentence you want, but regardless of what you choose them to mean, if P & Q is true, then P will be true, so {P & Q} |= P. So, giving "P & Q" whatever meaning you want with the condition that P stands for some sentence and & stands for "and," but otherwise having total freedom to choose a meaning, whenever your interpretation makes P & Q true, it must make P true.

Note: the first two symbols are logical symbols, the rest (well I'm not sure about "|") are 'metalogical' symbols. So if p and q are sentences of your language, p -> q and p = q are also sentences of your language. p |- q and p |= q are not sentences of your language, they are metalogical sentences about sentences in your language.

I've never seen -||- or =||= before, but I can guess that if you have P -||- Q then it just means P |- Q and Q |- P. That is P is derivable from Q and vice versa. In this case, we say that Q and P are deductively equivalent. Similarly, if you have P =||= Q, then P |= Q and Q |= P, so you would say that P and Q are truth-functionally equiavlent or quantificationally equivalent, depending on the context.

Still not sure about the "|".
 
  • #5
penitor said:
Does anyone recognize the symbols ⊃, ≡, |, |–, –||–, |=, =||= ??

⊃ is usually implication, so (P ⊃ Q) means "if P then Q".

≡ is usually syntactic equivalence.

|- is usually inference.

|= has a different meaning depending on the context. For example, A |= B could mean B is a logical consequence of A, or structure A satisfies B.

I am not sure about the others.
 
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  • #6
wow, again impressed with the helpfulness of this site.
Thanks so much you guys, I am extremely grateful.
 
  • #7
|- is inference. It belongs to the category of prepositional logic or predicate logic of the basicl logic symbols. It means 'infers or is derived from' as in x ⊢ y means y is derived from x. Example: A → B ⊢ ¬B → ¬A
 
  • #8
"|" could be stroke[/url]. (Notice that it can be used to define negation, conjunction, disjunction, and implication, so you can use it as your only connective.) Sheffer's stroke would usually be one of AKG's logical symbols, along with the other connectives.

An extra note on the meta thing: There's an important difference between the object language (the language that you talk about) and the metalanguage (the language that you use to talk about the object language). All of the symbols that you use are symbols of the metalanguage. Additionally, some of them denote symbols of the object language. However, they are not necessarily symbols of the object language -- the object language doesn't necessarily have a written form.
 
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1. What are logic symbols?

Logic symbols are symbols used in logic and mathematics to represent logical operations and concepts. They are used to express relationships between propositions, and to manipulate and evaluate logical statements.

2. Why are logic symbols important?

Logic symbols are important because they provide a concise and precise way to represent complex logical statements. They also allow for the manipulation and evaluation of these statements, making it easier to solve logical problems and prove logical theorems.

3. How many logic symbols are there?

There are many different logic symbols, but some of the most commonly used ones include conjunction (∧), disjunction (∨), negation (¬), implication (→), and equivalence (≡). There are also specialized symbols for quantifiers such as universal (∀) and existential (∃) quantifiers.

4. Can logic symbols be combined?

Yes, logic symbols can be combined to represent more complex logical statements. For example, the combination of ¬ and → represents the logical operation of negation followed by implication, which is equivalent to the logical operator of "if and only if" (↔).

5. How do I use logic symbols in my work?

If you are working in a field that involves logical reasoning or mathematics, logic symbols can be a useful tool in representing and solving logical problems. It is important to familiarize yourself with the commonly used symbols and their meanings, and to practice using them in logical statements and proofs.

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