Additional Examples on Predicate Logic

1. Write the following sentences as First-Order logic expressions

(i) Everything has a value

(ii) Nothing is good
(iii) All scientists are intellects.
(iv) Some animals are cruel
(v) Anybody who works hard and intelligent will be successful
(vi) All computers have a memory and a processor
(vii) No animals are human

Answers

(i) Everything has a value: this says that for all x, x has value. Therefore,
this can be written as
x value(x).

(ii) Nothing is good: this means everything is not good. Therefore, it has
the meaning that for all x, x is not good. This can be written as
x good(x)

(i) All scientists are intellects: this says that for all x, x is a scientist implies that x
is intellect. This can be written as
x scientist(x)  intellect(x)

(ii) Some animals are cruel: this says that there exists x, such that x is an animal
and x is also cruel. Therefore, this can be written as
x animal(x) cruel(x)

Note that ‘Some animals are cruel’ cannot be written as

x animal(x)  cruel(x),
because, this expression is true even if animal(x) is false and cruel(x) is false.
Recall that by definition, false implies false is true.

(iii) Anybody who works hard and intelligent will be successful: this says that for all
x, x works hard and x is intelligent implies that x is successful. Therefore, the
sentence can be written as
x [works_hard(x)  intelligent(x)]  successful(x)

(iv) All computers have a memory and a processor: this says that for all x, x is a
computer implies that there exists y, y is a memory and there exits z, z is a
processor. Therefore, it can be written as
x computer(x)  [y memory(y,x) z processor(z,x)]

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(v) No animals are humans: this says that for all x is an animal implies that x is not
a human. Therefore, this can be written as
x animal(x)  human(x)

2. Write the following sentence as First-Order logic expressions

(i) Cheap computers do not exist

(ii) Anyone who cuts a plant is loved by no one
(iii) Everyone who protects a plant is loved by someone

Answers
(i) Cheap computers do not exist: this means, there does not exists x such
that x is a computer and x is cheap. Therefore, this can be written as
x computer(x) cheap(x)
(ii) Anyone who cuts a pant is loved by no one: here we talk of persons who
cut a plant, the result is no one loves him. This can be written as

x [y plant(y)  cuts(x,y)]  [z loves(z,x)]

(iii) Everyone who protects a plant is loved by someone: the structure of this
sentence is very similar to the previous one. Therefore, the sentence
can be written as
x [y plant(y)  protects(x,y)]  [z loves(z,x)]

3. Write the following FOL expressions in simple English

(i) x human(x) eat(x)

(ii) x [y father(y,x)  z mother(z,x)]  husband(y,z)
(iii) x [y eligible_in(x, y)  subject(y)]  cansit(x,y)

Answers

(i) There do not exist human who do not eat.

(ii) Everybody has a father and mother such that father is the husband of
the mother.
(iii) Anyone who is eligible in all subjects can sit all subjects.

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