User talk:Lord Farin/Backup/Definition:Formal Language/Primitive Symbol

Somehow I feel that the primitive symbols need to be the variables and constants of the language, but as currently stated it seems to encompass even the parentheses used to well-define the formulae; this is not very useful when applied to top-down formal grammar atm. --Lord_Farin 16:23, 14 June 2012 (EDT)

That's the definitions we're running with, as that's the definitions used in the works I consulted to get this section off the ground. There is another definition for variables and constants, it might be something like "terms" or something.

Everybody has their own ideas as to how these pages should be structured, and they're all more or less right. I don't know what the answer is apart from put every single variant down in "also known as" and "also defined as" sections. I confess that the muddle and confusion and complete lack of any sort of consistency throughout the literature cause me to throw the whole bloody subject across the room in frustration. --prime mover 16:29, 14 June 2012 (EDT)

While I can definitely recognise myself in that last statement; I gratefully thank GFP for finding (at least, at first sight) the page I was looking for and linking to it. --Lord_Farin 17:18, 14 June 2012 (EDT)

To enhance my understanding of what is being defined here, would you please answer the following questions:

1. Is the primary purpose of the signs to provide handles for the formal grammar to attach to (like parentheses)? If not, what is the purpose and extent?
2. In PropLog, is $\land$ a sign or a letter? More generally, what are letters and signs in PropLog?
3. What books are/were your ref. for these pages? I'd like to try and grasp the author's perspective directly

TIA. --Lord_Farin 17:44, 14 June 2012 (EDT)

1996: H. Jerome Keisler and Joel Robbin: Mathematical Logic and Computability mainly, and it should all be there under the PropLog category. I was inexperienced with MediaWiki capabilities at the time, so it's a bit messy. Start here: Category:Propositional Calculus and see what you can make of it. --prime mover 17:59, 14 June 2012 (EDT)

Thanks; fortunately there is an ebook version available so that I can start right away. Well, that is, after I get some sleep. --Lord_Farin 18:16, 14 June 2012 (EDT)

It will be some more time developing an insight in the current structure of how formal systems pages generalise from PropCalc instances before I can start developing a vision and a goal to which I can work. --Lord_Farin 09:54, 15 June 2012 (EDT)