Literal (mathematical Logic)
In mathematical logic, a literal is an atomic formula (atom) or its negation. The definition mostly appears in proof theory (of classical logic), e.g. in conjunctive normal form and the method of resolution.
Literals can be divided into two types:
- A positive literal is just an atom.
- A negative literal is the negation of an atom.
For a literal, the complementary literal is a literal corresponding to the negation of, we can write to denote the complementary literal of . More precisely, if then is and if then is .
In the context of a formula in the conjunctive normal form, a literal is pure if the literal's complement does not appear in the formula.
Read more about Literal (mathematical Logic): Examples
Famous quotes containing the word literal:
“All the moral laws are readily translated into natural philosophy, for often we have only to restore the primitive meaning of the words by which they are expressed, or to attend to their literal instead of their metaphorical sense. They are already supernatural philosophy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)