Negation of existential quantifiers, functions in first order logic

4k Views Asked by At

I know the following rule: $\lnot \forall a (P(a)$ means $\exists a \lnot P(a)$ and $\lnot \exists a (P(a)$ means $\forall a \lnot P(a)$

But what if the problem is something like: $\lnot \forall x \lnot \exists y (P(x) \land P(y))$? Will the negation cancel out? To something like: $ \exists x \forall y (P(x) \land P(y))$?

And furthermore, what happens with functions $f$ then? If there is given: $\lnot \forall a \lnot \exists b(P(a) \land P(f(b)) ) \implies Q(f(f(b))))$ and I want to find a Model which satisfies the formula, how can I?

1

There are 1 best solutions below

3
On BEST ANSWER

They don't cancel out in the way you write it, no. Don't forget, the rule in the form you cite is equivalent to: $$ \neg\, \forall x \,\neg\, \varphi(x) \iff \exists x\, \varphi(x) \\ \,\neg \,\exists x \,\neg\, \varphi(x) \iff \forall x\, \varphi(x) \\ $$ Even more concisely for all four equivalences, $$\begin{align} \neg \exists &= \forall \neg \\ \neg \forall &= \exists \neg \\ \neg \forall \neg &= \exists \\ \neg \exists \neg &= \forall . \end{align}$$

With your example, $\lnot \forall x\, \lnot \exists y\, (P(x) \land P(y))$ is equivalent to $\exists x\, \exists y \,(P(x) \land P(y))$.

If you have function symbols as well, the same quantifier rules still apply to variables, of course. Your second example sentence, plus a missing initial parenthesis, is $\lnot \forall a\, \lnot \exists b \left((P(a) \land P(f(b)) ) \to Q(f(f(b)))\right)$, which is equivalent to $\exists a\, \exists b\,((P(a) \land P(f(b)) ) \to Q(f(f(b))))$.

The question about how you then find a model is a very different question.