Related papers: Multi-Structural Games and Number of Quantifiers
Multi-structural (MS) games are combinatorial games that capture the number of quantifiers of first-order sentences. On the face of their definition, MS games differ from Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse (EF) games in two ways: first, MS games are…
Combinatorial games played between two players, called Spoiler and Duplicator, have often been used to capture syntactic properties of formal logical languages. For instance, the widely used Ehrenfeucht-Fra\"iss\'e (EF) game captures the…
The number of quantifiers needed to express first-order properties is captured by two-player combinatorial games called multi-structural (MS) games. We play these games on linear orders and strings, and introduce a technique we call…
We introduce two new model comparison games that characterize separability by first-order formulas with generalized quantifiers. One is built on the Ehrenfeucht-Fra\"iss\'e game and the other is a formula-size game.
We study a natural hierarchy in first-order logic, namely the quantifier structure hierarchy, which gives a systematic classification of first-order formulas based on structural quantifier resource. We define a variant of…
Two structures $A$ and $B$ are $n$-equivalent if player II has a winning strategy in the $n$-move Ehrenfeucht-Fra\"iss\'e game on $A$ and $B$. In earlier papers we studied $n$-equivalence classes of ordinals and coloured ordinals. In this…
We define a version of the Ehrenfeucht-Fra\"iss\'e game in the setting of metric model theory and continuous first-order logic and show that the second player having a winning strategy in a game of length $n$ exactly corresponds to being…
The number of quantifiers needed to express first-order (FO) properties is captured by two-player combinatorial games called multi-structural games. We analyze these games on binary strings with an ordering relation, using a technique we…
Ehrenfeucht-Fra\"iss\'e (EF) games are a basic tool in finite model theory for proving definability lower bounds, with many applications in complexity theory and related areas. They have been applied to study various logics, giving insights…
We investigate the following problem: given a sample of classified strings, find a first-order sentence of minimal quantifier rank that is consistent with the sample. We represent strings as successor string structures, that is, finite…
In 1981, Neil Immerman described a two-player game, which he called the "separability game" \cite{Immerman81}, that captures the number of quantifiers needed to describe a property in first-order logic. Immerman's paper laid the groundwork…
We study first-order as well as infinitary logics extended with quantifiers closed upwards under embeddings. In particular, we show that if a chain of quasi-homogeneous structures is sufficiently long then a given formula of such a logic is…
Fragments of first-order logic over words can often be characterized in terms of finite monoids or finite semigroups. Usually these algebraic descriptions yield decidability of the question whether a given regular language is definable in a…
We introduce a refinement of the usual Ehrenfeucht-Fra\"{\i}ss\'e game. The new game will help us make finer distinctions than the traditional one. In particular, it can be used to measure the size formulas needed for expressing a given…
We propose an extension of the Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse game able to deal with logics augmented with Lindstrom quantifiers. We describe three different games with varying balance between simplicity and ease of use.
Fragments of first-order logic over words can often be characterized in terms of finite monoids, and identities of omega-terms are an effective mechanism for specifying classes of monoids. Huschenbett and the first author have shown how to…
Let A and B be two first order structures of the same relational vocabulary L. The Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse-game of length gamma of A and B denoted by EFG_gamma(A,B) is defined as follows: There are two players called for all and exists. First…
Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse games are very useful in studying separation and equivalence results in logic. The standard finite Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse game characterizes equivalence in first order logic. The standard Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse game in…
Given two $n$-element structures, $\mathcal{A}$ and $\mathcal{B}$, which can be distinguished by a sentence of $k$-variable first-order logic ($\mathcal{L}^k$), what is the minimum $f(n)$ such that there is guaranteed to be a sentence $\phi…
Alternating quantifier depth is a natural measure of difficulty required to express first order logical sentences. We define a sequence of first order properties on rooted, locally finite trees in a recursive manner, and provide rigorous…