In logic, cyclic negation is (assuming that the truth values are linearly ordered) a unary truth function that takes a truth value n and returns n-1 as value if n isn't the lowest value; otherwise it returns the highest value. For example, let (i) be the set of truth values be {0,1,2}, (ii) '~' denote negation, and (iii) p be a variable over truth values (i.e. whose range is truth values). Thus if p=0 then ~p=2; and if p=1 then ~p=0.
It was originally introduced by the logician and mathematician Emil Post.
Famous quotes containing the word negation:
“We make a mistake forsaking England and moving out into the periphery of life. After all, Taormina, Ceylon, Africa, America—as far as we go, they are only the negation of what we ourselves stand for and are: and we’re rather like Jonahs running away from the place we belong.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)