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This semester I take Introduction to logic and sets theory and for logic our reference is A Mathematical Introduction to Logic by H.B.Enderton.

I have some problems with this course I mean it is somehow unfamiliar ! our professor teach well and I learn at class but when I want to solve my homework ,I have no idea ,how to solve problems !

I don't have any idea how to prove this :

suppose a and b are tautologically equivalent, where A is wff and a is used in A and B is another wff that b is used in; prove that A and B are tautologically equivalent.

Any one can help me ?

haleh
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  • Hi, can you clarify the question. What is A rather than a, what does wffs stand for? Once you have clarified the question it would be good to describe any ideas you have about the problem – Joe Tait Feb 23 '14 at 15:14
  • wffs is well formed formulas! – haleh Feb 24 '14 at 07:11

1 Answers1

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You want to prove that if $A$ and $B$ are two formulas, and $C_A$ is a formula containing $A$ and $C_B$ comes from $C_A$ by replacing that part by $B$, we have :

Replacement theorem. If $\vDash_{TAUT} A \equiv B$, then $\vDash_{TAUT} C_A \equiv C_B$.

We assume that $A$ and $B$ are tautologically equivalent when $\vDash_{TAUT} A \equiv B$.

We can prove it in two ways :

(i) by truth-tables [see Stephen Cole Kleene, Mathematical Logic (1967), page 19].

If $\vDash_{TAUT} A \equiv B$, then the truth-table for $A$ and $B$ are identical, i.e. in each row, if $A$ evaluates to true (false), also $B$ evaluates to true (false).

Hence if, in the computation of a given line of the table for $C_A$, we replace the computation of the specified part $A$ by a computation of $B$ instead, the outcome will be unchanged. Thus $C_B$ has the same table of $C_A$; so $\vDash_{TAUT} C_A \equiv C_B$.

(ii) by induction on the depth of the occurrence of $A$ in $C_A$ [see Stephen Cole Kleene, Introduction to Metamathematics (1952), page 116].

The formula $C_A$ can be built up form $A$ with repeated applications of the rules for the use of connectives (like: from $P$ and $Q$, construct $P \lor Q$).

The number of steps in this construction of $C_A$ from $A$, we call the depth of an occurrence of $A$ in $C_A$. In other words, the depth of the part $A$ in $C_A$ is the number of connectives within the scopes of which it lies.

The proof is by induction on the depth of $A$ in $C_A$, taking the $A$ and $B$ fixed for the induction.

Basis: $A$ is at depth $0$ in $C_A$. Then $C_A$ is simply $A$ and $C_B$ must be $B$. So the theorem is simply : if $\vDash_{TAUT} A \equiv B$, then $\vDash_{TAUT} A \equiv B$.

Induction step: $A$ is at depth $d+1$ in $C_A$ and we assume as induction hypothesis that the result holds for depth $d$.

According to the rules for formation of formulas (for simplicity we assume that we are using only the $\lnot$ and $\lor$ connectives), we have that $C_A$ must have one of the following forms : $N \lor M_A$, $M_A \lor N$, $\lnot M_A$, where $M_A$ is the part of $C_A$ (and $C_B$ will be : $N \lor M_B$, $M_B \lor N$, $\lnot M_B$, respectively) where the specified occurrence of $A$ lies at depth $d$.

The induction hypothesis amount to assuming that if $\vDash_{TAUT} A \equiv B$, then $\vDash_{TAUT} M_A \equiv M_B$, because $M_A$ (and so $M_B$) have depth $d$.

In order to complete the proof, we need some simple lemmas :

if $\vDash_{TAUT} A \equiv B$, then $\vDash_{TAUT} \lnot A \equiv \lnot B$

if $\vDash_{TAUT} A \equiv B$, then $\vDash_{TAUT} A \lor C \equiv B \lor C$

if $\vDash_{TAUT} A \equiv B$, then $\vDash_{TAUT} C \lor A \equiv C \lor B$.

Then, applying the above lemmas (with $M_A$ as the $A$, $M_B$ as the $B$ and $N$ as the $C$), we have :

if $\vDash_{TAUT} M_A \equiv M_B$, then $\vDash_{TAUT} C_A \equiv C_B$.

Therefore, "connecting" the last result with the induction hypothesis above :

if $\vDash_{TAUT} A \equiv B$, then $\vDash_{TAUT} C_A \equiv C_B$.

  • Thanks for your help!I couldn't clarify my problem well but you understand it very well :D and Mathematical Logic by Stephen Cole Kleene seems a good book !it can help me to understand logic better ! – haleh Feb 24 '14 at 07:16
  • @user112588 - But Enderton's is a good book either. The only "problem" is that this exercise is not so easy, and Enderton does not have the solution. I do not know if there is a website connected to Enderton's book with hints and solutions ... try with a search on the web, if you need. – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Feb 24 '14 at 07:24
  • @ Mauro ALLEGRANZA:I don't say Enderton is not a good book!it describes logic well for beginners like me!but my problem is that I am a bachelor student of Computer Science and I have some mathematical courses like logic,Analyze,foundation of math which is about fields,Cardinals,.. ,I love these courses but my problem is that I don't know how to prove math problems,for example in my logic course professor prove more difficult theorem like compactness theorem incompletely and we should complete it ,I think learning how to prove is the most important technique in Math which I don't know well !:( – haleh Feb 24 '14 at 07:41