Answer to Question #104690 in Discrete Mathematics for Martin

Question

QUESTION 4

Below are a number of expressions. State which are terms, some are atomic wffs (well-formed formulae) and some are neither.

a) Tet(y)

b) Logician(john)

c) father_of(quinn)

d) 2 + y = z2

e) Angry(x; y;2:00)

Answer 1

An atomic formula or atom is simply a predicate applied to a tuple of terms; that is, an atomic formula is a formula of the form P (t1 ,…, tn) for P a predicate, and the tn terms.

A term is either a single number or variable, or numbers and variables multiplied together.

a) Tet(y) - term,

b) Logician(john) - term,

c) father_of(quinn) - term,

d) 2 + y = z2 - the expression of terms,

e) Angry(x; y;2:00) - atomic wff.