Logic for Information Technology

by Antony Galton

John Wiley and Sons, 1990

ISBN 0-471-92777-5 (hardback), 0-471-92933-6 (paperback)

The Publisher's Blurb

A gentle but uncompromising introduction to formal logic, this book will meet the particular needs and interests of both beginning and more mature students of computer science, artificial intelligence and other information technology subjects. Students and teachers of philosophy or mathematics may also find the approach of interest.

Key concepts and general logical notions are first introduced informally to encourage better understanding of their significance, and then in more specific detail. Propositional and Predicate Calculi are introduced step by step. Then a discussion of first-order theories is followed by an introduction to Modal Logic and Temporal Logic. Algorithmic aspects are emphasized throughout; and the material on Resolution is designed to illustrate clearly the logical significance of Logic Programming. The text contains a number of useful 'health warnings' against the misuse of terms and consequent confusions and misunderstandings.

Numerous examples, diagrams and other illustrative material are used to make points as clearly as possible. Plenty of exercises are provided (with answers to about a third of them). No previous knowledge of logic is assumed and only a rudimentary background in mathematics is required.

For a first course in logic the reader might take any suitable combination of paths through the section-dependency diagram shown at the end of the contents list (the numbers on the diagram refer to section numbers within the book).

Contents

  1. Fundamental Concepts of Logic
  2. The Propositional Calculus
  3. Proof Systems for the Propositional Calculus
  4. The Predicate Calculus
  5. Proof Systems for the Predicate Calculus
  6. First Order Theories
  7. Modal and Temporal Logic

Reviews

Errata

A list of errata is available as a postscript file.