Logic & Proofs Movie

Parse Trees II

Parse Trees II

To argue that a particular expression is not a formula, we have to argue that it cannot be constructed by the grammatical rules.

As always, we start out with the expression as a wholein this case, a left parenthesis followed by the atomic formula P, a conjunction symbol, the atomic formula Q, a negation symbol, and finally a right parenthesis.

Our first task is to determine the general form of the expression. In this example, the expression has the form of a conjunction.

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Logic & Proofs

Parse Trees II

Accordingly, we create one branch for each subexpression.

Our left-hand subexpression is just the atomic formula P, so we are done with that branch.

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Logic & Proofs

Parse Trees II

Our right-hand subexpression is a different matter altogether. The expression consisting of the sentential letter Q followed by a negation symbol is obviously not a sentential letter. It also does not have the form of a negation, as it does not begin with a negation symbol. Finally, it doesn't have the form of a conjunction, disjunction, or conditional. It is, after all, neither enclosed in parentheses, nor does it contain an occurrence of any of these binary connectives. The subexpression Q followed by negation cannot be constructed by the rules. Thus we know that our original expression is not well-formed as it cannot be built up according to the grammatical rules either.

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