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On Finite Model Theory (Extended Abstract)

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Feasible Mathematics

Part of the book series: Progress in Computer Science and Applied Logic ((PCS,volume 9))

Abstract

The subject of this paper is the part of finite model theory intimately related to the classical model theory. In the very beginning of our career in computer science, we attended a few lectures on database theory where databases were inconspicuously allowed to be infinite and then classical model-theoretical theorems were applied. The use of infinite databases aroused our suspicion and prompted us to investigate the status of some most famous model-theoretical theorems in the case of finite structures [Gu84]. The theorems miserably fail. One theorem (a theorem of Roger Lyndon: Every sentence monotone in a predicate P is logically equivalent to a sentence positive in P [Ly59]) resisted the attack and was refuted by Miklos Ajtai and ourselves later [AG87]. In Section 1, we give some old and new counter-examples to classical mo del-theoretic theorems in the finite case.

Partially supported by NSF grants DCR 85-03275 and CCR 89-04728.

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References

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© 1990 Birkhäuser Boston

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Gurevich, Y. (1990). On Finite Model Theory (Extended Abstract). In: Buss, S.R., Scott, P.J. (eds) Feasible Mathematics. Progress in Computer Science and Applied Logic, vol 9. Birkhäuser Boston. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3466-1_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3466-1_12

  • Publisher Name: Birkhäuser Boston

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-8176-3483-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-3466-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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