Talk:Formula (mathematical logic)

merge q
Maybe this should be merged with Well formed formula? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.86.183.4 (talk • contribs)  06:20, 12 March 2007   (UTC)
 * Possibly. In that case I would say well-formed formula should be merged here; this is the better title. --Trovatore 07:42, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Actually, after looking at the WFF page, I'd say don't merge. That page seems to be about any string accepted by a formal grammar; this page is about a specific kind of WFF with a particular semantics. --Trovatore 07:44, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
 * I would also opt for keeping the two articles distinct, for the same reason. --Dessources (talk) 00:00, 8 January 2008 (UTC)


 * oppose merge -- closely related, but still significantly different enough to require a distinction. Pontiff Greg Bard (talk) 04:52, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Different strings are different formulas
This claim:
 * Two different strings of symbols may be tokens of the same formula. It is not necessary for the existence of a formula that there be any tokens of it.

Is simply incorrect. In mathematical logic, a formula is a specific kind of string of symbols. As a syntactical object, it is completely determined by the symbols that of which it is composed, so different strings are always different formulas. Moreover, it is impossible to have a syntactic object, such as a formula, which cannot be syntactically represented. &mdash; Carl (CBM · talk) 20:52, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

What is the subject of this article?
Is this article about formulas in arbitrary formal systems (like well-formed formula), or is it specifically about formulas in propositional and sentential logic? I plan to start working on expanding and improving this article as soon as I find an answer to that question. &mdash; Carl (CBM · talk) 21:14, 11 May 2008 (UTC)