# Rule of Explosion

## Proof Rule

The Rule of Explosion is a valid deduction sequent in propositional logic.

### Proof Rule

If a contradiction can be concluded, it is possible to infer any statement.

### Sequent Form

$\bot \vdash \phi$

## Explanation

The Rule of Explosion can be expressed in natural language as:

If you can prove a contradiction, you can prove anything.

Compare this with the colloquial expression:

"If England win the World Cup this year, then I'm a kangaroo."

The assumption is that the concept of England winning the world cup is an inherent contradiction (it being taken worldwide as a self-evident truth that England will never win the World Cup again). Therefore, if England does win the World Cup this year, then this would imply a falsehood as the author of this page is certainly human.

This rule is denied validity in the system of Johansson's minimal logic.

## Variants

The following can be used as variants of this theorem:

### Variant 1

$\vdash p \implies \paren {\neg p \implies q}$

### Variant 2

$\vdash \left({p \land \neg p}\right) \implies q$

### Variant 3

$p, \neg p \vdash q$

## Also known as

The Rule of Explosion is also known as the rule of bottom-elimination.

Those who fancy Latin may like ex falso (sequitur) quodlibet, which literally means from a falsehood (follows) whatever you like.