Related papers: The hardest logic puzzle ever becomes even tougher
Raymond Smullyan came up with a puzzle that George Boolos called The Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever.[1] The puzzle has truthful, lying, and random gods who answer yes or no questions with words that we don't know the meaning of. The challenge is…
A formal axiomatic mathematical framework for Boolos' Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever is presented and two theorems about its solvability are proved. By strictly following Boolos' instructions (in particular, the requirement that all gods are…
An examination of George Boole's mysterious use of the Algebra of Numbers to create an Algebra of Logic, and subsequent research connected to this.
This article seeks to encourage a mathematical dialog regarding a possible solution to Beals Conjecture. It breaks down one of the worlds most difficult math problems into laymans terms and encourages people to question some of the most…
We investigate the complexity of a puzzle that turns out to be NL-complete.
Natural languages can express some logical propositions that humans are able to understand. We illustrate this fact with a famous text that Conan Doyle attributed to Holmes: 'It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the…
The computational method of parametric probability analysis is introduced. It is demonstrated how to embed logical formulas from the propositional calculus into parametric probability networks, thereby enabling sound reasoning about the…
To counter a general belief that all the paradoxes stem from a kind of circularity (or involve some self--reference, or use a diagonal argument) Stephen Yablo designed a paradox in 1993 that seemingly avoided self--reference. We turn…
In this short article, we look at an old logical puzzle, its solution and proof and discuss some interesting aspects concerning its representation in a logic programming language like Prolog. We also discuss an intriguing information…
Linear logic was conceived in 1987 by Girard and, in contrast to classical logic, restricts the usage of the structural inference rules of weakening and contraction. With this, atoms of the logic are no longer interpreted as truth, but as…
The apparently trifling unexpected hanging paradox has generated an enormous philosophical literature. We introduce the mathematician to this literature, paying special attention to aspects that involve nontrivial mathematics. This xxx…
We study the famous mathematical puzzle of prisoners and hats. We introduce a framework in which various variants of the problem can be formalized. We examine three particular versions of the problem (each one in fact a class of problems)…
This is a short historical note concerning the evolution of Wetzel's problem and Erdos' solution.
Paradoxes are interesting puzzles in philosophy and mathematics, and they could be even more fascinating, when turned into proofs and theorems. For example, Liar's paradox can be translated into a propositional tautology, and Barber's…
The so-called problem of grue was introduced by Nelson Goodman in 1954 as a "riddle" about induction, a riddle which has been widely thought to cast doubt on the validity and rationality of induction. That unnecessary doubt in turn is…
We consider extensions of monadic second order logic over $\omega$-words, which are obtained by adding one language that is not $\omega$-regular. We show that if the added language $L$ has a neutral letter, then the resulting logic is…
Finding solution values for unknowns in Boolean equations was a principal reasoning mode in the Algebra of Logic of the 19th century. Schr\"oder investigated it as Aufl\"osungsproblem (solution problem). It is closely related to the modern…
Modal logics are widely used in computer science. The complexity of their satisfiability problems has been an active field of research since the 1970s. We prove that even very "simple" modal logics can be undecidable: We show that there is…
This work presents an operational and geometric approach to logic. It starts from the multilinear elective decomposition of binary logical functions in the original form introduced by George Boole. A justification on historical grounds is…
This article discusses the logical errors in the liar paradox, G\"odel's incompleteness theorems, Russell's paradox, and the halting problem. In order to avoid these errors, a redefinition of logic has been presented, which is concluded as…