Mathematical Logic
In much formal work, authors use a definite description operator symbolized using . The operator is usually defined so as to reflect a Russellian analysis of descriptions (though other authors, especially in linguistics, use the operator with a Fregean semantics). Thus
- ,
means "the unique such that ", and
is stipulated to be equivalent to "There is exactly one and it has the property ":
Read more about this topic: Definite Description
Famous quotes containing the words mathematical and/or logic:
“An accurate charting of the American woman’s progress through history might look more like a corkscrew tilted slightly to one side, its loops inching closer to the line of freedom with the passage of time—but like a mathematical curve approaching infinity, never touching its goal. . . . Each time, the spiral turns her back just short of the finish line.”
—Susan Faludi (20th century)
“seizing the swift logic of a woman,
Curse God and die.”
—Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935)