In logic, a set of symbols is commonly used to express logical representation. As logicians are familiar with these symbols, they are not explained each time they are used. So, for students of logic, the following table lists many common symbols together with their name, pronunciation and related field of mathematics. Additionally, the third column contains an informal definition, and the fourth column gives a short example.
Be aware that, outside of logic, different symbols have the same meaning, and the same symbol has, depending on the context, different meanings.
Basic logic symbols
Advanced and rarely used logical symbols
These symbols are sorted by their Unicode value:
- U+00B7 · middle dot, an outdated way for denoting AND, still in use in electronics; for example "A·B" is the same as "A&B"
- ·: Center dot with a line above it (using HTML style). Outdated way for denoting NAND, for example "A·B" is the same as "A NAND B" or "A|B" or "¬(A & B)". See also Unicode U+22C5 ⋅ dot operator.
- U+0305 ̅ combining overline, used as abbreviation for standard numerals. For example, using HTML style "4̅" is a shorthand for the standard numeral "SSSS0".
- Overline, is also a rarely used format for denoting Gödel numbers, for example "AVB" says the Gödel number of "(AVB)"
- Overline is also an outdated way for denoting negation, still in use in electronics; for example "AVB" is the same as "¬(AVB)"
- U+2191 ↑ upwards arrow or U+007C | vertical line: Sheffer stroke, the sign for the NAND operator.
- U+2201 ∁ complement
- U+2204 ∄ there does not exist: strike out existential quantifier same as "¬∃"
- U+2234 ∴ therefore
- U+2235 ∵ because
- U+22A7 ⊧ models: is a model of
- U+22A8 ⊨ true: is true of
- U+22AC ⊬ does not prove: negated ⊢, the sign for "does not prove", for example T ⊬ P says "P is not a theorem of T"
- U+22AD ⊭ not true: is not true of
- U+22BC ⊼ nand: another NAND operator, can also be rendered as ∧
- U+22BD ⊽ nor: another NOR operator, can also be rendered as V
- U+22C4 ⋄ diamond operator: modal operator for "it is possible that", "it is not necessarily not" or rarely "it is not provable not" (in most modal logics it is defined as "¬◻¬")
- U+22C6 ⋆ star operator: usually used for ad-hoc operators
- U+22A5 ⊥ up tack or U+2193 ↓ downwards arrow: Webb-operator or Peirce arrow, the sign for NOR. Confusingly, "⊥" is also the sign for contradiction or absurdity.
- U+2310 ⌐ reversed not sign
- U+231C ⌜ top left corner and U+231D ⌝ top right corner: corner quotes, also called "Quine quotes"; the standard symbol used for denoting Gödel number; for example "⌜G⌝" denotes the Gödel number of G. (Typographical note: although the quotes appears as a "pair" in unicode (231C and 231D), they are not symmetrical in some fonts. And in some fonts (for example Arial) they are only symmetrical in certain sizes. Alternatively the quotes can be rendered as ⌈ and ⌉ (U+2308 and U+2309) or by using a negation symbol and a reversed negation symbol ⌐ ¬ in superscript mode. )
Note that the following operators are rarely supported by natively installed fonts. If you wish to use these in a web page, you should always embed the necessary fonts so the page viewer can see the web page without having the necessary fonts installed in their computer.
- U+27E1 ⟡ white concave-sided diamond
- U+27E2 ⟢ white concave-sided diamond with leftwards tick: modal operator for was never
- U+27E3 ⟣ white concave-sided diamond with rightwards tick: modal operator for will never be
- U+27E4 ⟤ white square with leftwards tick: modal operator for was always
- U+27E5 ⟥ white square with rightwards tick: modal operator for will always be
- U+297D ⥽ right fish tail: sometimes used for "relation", also used for denoting various ad hoc relations (for example, for denoting "witnessing" in the context of Rosser's trick) See here for an image of glyph. Added to Unicode 3.2.0.
See also
Notes
- ^ Although this character is available in LaTeX, the Mediawiki TeX system doesn't support this character.
External links
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