Some terminology: differences of term, formula, and expression in logic

computer sciencelogicpredicate-logicterminology

In the wikipedia article on logical terms it is written:

In analogy to natural language, where a noun phrase refers to an
object and a whole sentence refers to a fact, in mathematical logic, a
term denotes a mathematical object and a formula denotes a
mathematical fact. In particular, terms appear as components of a
formula.

I am not sure to understand exactly what that means, and the exact difference between:

  • a term
  • a formula
  • an expression

If authors adopt different conventions, I would like the standpoint of one that makes a clear distinction between the terms. In particular things that are not clear not me are questions like:

  • is every term a formula?
  • is every term an expression?
  • is every formula a term?
  • is every formula an expression?
  • is every expression a term?
  • is every expression a formula?

Examples of things that are terms, formulas, and expressions are welcome.

Best Answer

A term is a "name": variables and constants are terms.

In addition, "complex" terms can be manufactured using function symbols.

Example: $n$ is a variable, $0$ is a constant and $+$ is a (binary) function symbol.

Thus, $n,0$ and $n+0$ are terms.

Formulas are statements.

Atomic formulas are the basic building blocks for manufacturing statements.

They are formulas that have no sub-parts that are formulas.

They are manufactured using predicate symbols, like e.g. $\text {Even}(x)$, equality and terms.

Thus, $\text {Even}(n), 0=0$ and $n+0=n$ are atomic formulas.

With connectives and quantifiers we can write more complex formulas, like: $\forall n (n+0=n)$ and $0=0 \to \forall n (n+0=n)$.

Expression can be a "generic" category: it may mean a string of symbols.

We may call well-formed expression a string of symbols that satisfies the rule of the syntax.

If so, it is either a term or a formula.

Related Question