Definition:Existential Statement

Definition
An existential statement is one which expresses the existence of at least one object (in a particular universe of discourse) which has a particular property.

That is, a statement of the form:
 * $\exists x: P \paren x$

where:
 * $\exists$ is the existential quantifier
 * $P$ is a predicate symbol.

It means:
 * There exists at least one $x$ (in some given universe of discourse) which has the property $P$.

Also known as
An existential statement can also be referred to as a existential sentence, or more wordily, a sentence of an existential character.

Also see

 * Definition:Universal Statement


 * Definition:Bound Variable