PHIL 4310

Mathematical Logic

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2024-2025. Courses of Study 2024-2025 is scheduled to publish mid-June.

First course in mathematical logic providing precise definitions of the language of mathematics and the notion of proof (propositional and predicate logic). The completeness theorem says that we have all the rules of proof we could ever have. The Gödel incompleteness theorem says that they are not enough to decide all statements even about arithmetic. The compactness theorem exploits the finiteness of proofs to show that theories have unintended (nonstandard) models. Possible additional topics: the mathematical definition of an algorithm and the existence of noncomputable functions; the basics of set theory to cardinality and the uncountability of the real numbers.

When Offered Fall.

Prerequisites/Corequisites Prerequisite: MATH 2210, MATH 2230, MATH 2310, MATH 2940, or equivalent.
Forbidden Overlaps Forbidden Overlap: due to an overlap in content, students will receive credit for only one course in the following group: CS 4860, MATH 4810, MATH 4860, PHIL 4310.

Distribution Category (SMR-AS)

Comments Students will be expected to be comfortable writing proofs. More experience with proofs may be gained by first taking CS 2800 or a 3000-level MATH course. Offered alternate years.

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