0-1 Laws for Infinitary Logics


Book Description

Abstract: "We investigate asymptotic probabilities of properties expressible in the infinitary logic [formula] on finite structures. Sentences in this logic may have arbitrary disjunctions and conjunctions, but they involve only a finite number of distinct variables. We show that the 0-1 law holds for [formula], i.e., the asymptotic probability of every sentence in this logic exists and is equal to either 0 or 1. This result subsumes earlier work on asymptotic probabilities for various fixpoint logics and reveals the boundary of 0-1 laws for infinitary logics."







Finite and Infinite Combinatorics in Sets and Logic


Book Description

This volume contains the accounts of papers delivered at the Nato Advanced Study Institute on Finite and Infinite Combinatorics in Sets and Logic held at the Banff Centre, Alberta, Canada from April 21 to May 4, 1991. As the title suggests the meeting brought together workers interested in the interplay between finite and infinite combinatorics, set theory, graph theory and logic. It used to be that infinite set theory, finite combinatorics and logic could be viewed as quite separate and independent subjects. But more and more those disciplines grow together and become interdependent of each other with ever more problems and results appearing which concern all of those disciplines. I appreciate the financial support which was provided by the N. A. T. O. Advanced Study Institute programme, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics of the University of Calgary. 11l'te meeting on Finite and Infinite Combinatorics in Sets and Logic followed two other meetings on discrete mathematics held in Banff, the Symposium on Ordered Sets in 1981 and the Symposium on Graphs and Order in 1984. The growing inter-relation between the different areas in discrete mathematics is maybe best illustrated by the fact that many of the participants who were present at the previous meetings also attended this meeting on Finite and Infinite Combinatorics in Sets and Logic.




Finite Model Theory and Its Applications


Book Description

Finite model theory,as understoodhere, is an areaof mathematicallogic that has developed in close connection with applications to computer science, in particular the theory of computational complexity and database theory. One of the fundamental insights of mathematical logic is that our understanding of mathematical phenomena is enriched by elevating the languages we use to describe mathematical structures to objects of explicit study. If mathematics is the science of patterns, then the media through which we discern patterns, as well as the structures in which we discern them, command our attention. It isthis aspect oflogicwhichis mostprominentin model theory,“thebranchof mathematical logic which deals with the relation between a formal language and its interpretations”. No wonder, then, that mathematical logic, and ?nite model theory in particular, should ?nd manifold applications in computer science: from specifying programs to querying databases, computer science is rife with phenomena whose understanding requires close attention to the interaction between language and structure. This volume gives a broadoverviewof some central themes of ?nite model theory: expressive power, descriptive complexity, and zero–one laws, together with selected applications to database theory and arti?cial intelligence, es- cially constraint databases and constraint satisfaction problems. The ?nal chapter provides a concise modern introduction to modal logic,which emp- sizes the continuity in spirit and technique with ?nite model theory.




The Strange Logic of Random Graphs


Book Description

The study of random graphs was begun in the 1960s and now has a comprehensive literature. This excellent book by one of the top researchers in the field now joins the study of random graphs (and other random discrete objects) with mathematical logic. The methodologies involve probability, discrete structures and logic, with an emphasis on discrete structures.




Database Theory - ICDT '92


Book Description

The papers in this volume were presented at the International Conference on Database Theory, held in Berlin, Germany, October 14-16, 1992. This conference initiated the merger of two series of conferences on theoretical aspects of databases that were formed in parallel by different scientific communities in Europe. The first series was known as the International Conference on Database Theory and the second as the Symposium on Mathematical Fundamentals of Database Systems. In the future, ICDT will be organized every two years, alternating with the more practically oriented series of conferences on Extending Database Technology (EDBT). The volume contains 3 invited lectures and 26 contributed papers selected from a total of 107 submissions. The papers are organized into sections on constraints and decomposition, query languages, updates and active databases, concurrency control and recovery, knowledge bases, datalog complexity and optimization, object orientation, information capacity and security, and data structures and algorithms. Two of the invited papers survey research into theoretical database issues done in Eastern Europe during the past decade.




Computer Science Logic


Book Description

Thisvolumecontainspapersselectedforpresentationatthe2004AnnualConf- enceoftheEuropeanAssociationforComputerScienceLogic, heldonSeptember 20-24, 2004 in Karpacz, Poland. The CSL conference series started as the International Workshops on C- puterScienceLogic, andthen, after?vemeetings, becametheAnnualConference of the European Association for Computer Science Logic. This conference was the 18th meeting, and the 13th EACSL conference. Altogether 99 abstracts were submitted, followed by 88 papers. Each of these paperswasrefereedbyatleastthreereviewers. Then, afteratwo-weekelectronic discussion, the Programme Committee selected 33 papers for presentation at the conference. Apart from the contributed papers, the Committee invited lectures from Albert Atserias, Martin Hyland, Dale Miller, Ken McMillan and Pawel Urzyczyn. WewouldliketothankallPCmembersandthesubrefereesfortheirexcellent work. The electronic PC meeting would not be possible without good software support. We decided to use the GNU CyberChair system, created by Richard van de Stadt, and we are happy with this decision. We also would like to thank Micha l Moskal who installed and ran CyberChair for us. Finally, we would like to thank ToMasz Wierzbicki, who helped with the preparation of this volume. We gratefully acknowledge?nancial support for the conference received from the Polish Committee for Scienti?c Research, and Wroc law University. July 2004 Jerzy Marcinkowski and Andrzej Tarlecki Organization CSL 2004 was organized by the Institute of Computer Science, Wrocla w University.




Bounded Variable Logics and Counting


Book Description

Since their inception, the Perspectives in Logic and Lecture Notes in Logic series have published seminal works by leading logicians. Many of the original books in the series have been unavailable for years, but they are now in print once again. In this volume, the ninth publication in the Lecture Notes in Logic series, Martin Otto gives an introduction to finite model theory that indicates the main ideas and lines of inquiry that motivate research in this area. Particular attention is paid to bounded variable infinitary logics, with and without counting quantifiers, related fixed-point logics, and the corresponding fragments of Ptime. The relations with Ptime exhibit the fruitful exchange between ideas from logic and from complexity theory that is characteristic of finite model theory.




Automata, Languages and Programming


Book Description

The International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming (ICALP) is an annual conference series sponsored by the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS). It is intended to cover all important areas of theoretical computer science, such as: computability, automata,formal languages, term rewriting, analysis of algorithms, computational geometry, computational complexity, symbolic and algebraic computation, cryptography, data types and data structures, theory of data bases and knowledge bases, semantics of programming languages, program specification, transformation and verification, foundations of logicprogramming, theory of logical design and layout, parallel and distributed computation, theory of concurrency, and theory of robotics. This volume contains the proceedings of ICALP 93, held at LundUniversity, Sweden, in July 1993. It includes five invited papers and 51 contributed papers selected from 151 submissions.




Elements of Finite Model Theory


Book Description

Emphasizes the computer science aspects of the subject. Details applications in databases, complexity theory, and formal languages, as well as other branches of computer science.