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Mathematical logic and foundations Definition

Many-valued logic

Builds on Propositional logicTautologyFunction

Definition

Fix a finite set CC of connectives, each with an arity. A logical matrix for CC is a triple (V,D,{fc}c∈C)(V, D, \set{f_c}_{c \in C}) with these parts.

  1. A set VV of truth values with at least three elements.
  2. A nonempty proper subset D⊆VD \subseteq V of designated values.
  3. For each nn-ary connective cc, a function fc ⁣:Vn→Vf_c \colon V^n \to V, its truth table.

A valuation assigns a value in VV to each propositional variable and extends to all formulas through the functions fcf_c. A formula is a tautology of the matrix when it takes a value in DD under every valuation. The many-valued logic of the matrix is the set of its tautologies.

Remarks

With V={0,1}V = \set{0, 1}, D={1}D = \set{1} and the usual tables, the tautologies are those of classical propositional logic; clause 1 excludes this two-valued case.

Example: Łukasiewicz's three-valued logic L3\mathrm{L}_3 has V={0,12,1}V = \set{0, \tfrac12, 1} and D={1}D = \set{1}. Its tables are ¬x=1−x\neg x = 1 - x, x→y=min⁡(1,1−x+y)x \to y = \min(1, 1 - x + y), x∨y=max⁡(x,y)x \lor y = \max(x, y) and x∧y=min⁡(x,y)x \land y = \min(x, y). The formula p→pp \to p is a tautology, since min⁡(1,1−x+x)=1\min(1, 1 - x + x) = 1 for every xx.

Non-example: p∨¬pp \lor \neg p is a classical tautology but not a tautology of L3\mathrm{L}_3. The valuation p↦12p \mapsto \tfrac12 gives max⁡(12,12)=12∉D\max(\tfrac12, \tfrac12) = \tfrac12 \notin D.

Infinite-valued logics use, for example, V=[0,1]V = [0, 1] with the same tables.

Reading path

To understand this page from the ground up, read these 10 pages in order. The foundations come first.

Show the path as a graph
Each page uses the pages above it. The colour of the bar on a box shows how strong the evidence is, and the box also gives it as text. The list has the same pages.
  • no evidence level
  1. Function concept
  2. Proposition concept
  3. Tautology concept
  4. Conjunction definition
  5. Disjunction definition
  6. Implication definition
  7. Negation definition
  8. Biconditional definition
  9. Propositional logic concept
  10. Many-valued logic definition

Further reading

  1. Web https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-valued_logic
About this page
Tag66NMTCQNQV
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Kinddefinition
WritingW0 stub
MSC03B50
DefinesMany-valued logic
UsesPropositional logic, Tautology, Function
Changed2 November 2026

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