Introduction to Logic – Spring 2025
Assignment 5
Tuesday 4th March 2025
Instructions This sheet contains two kinds of assignments: exercises and homework.
The first are not mandatory and are meant for practising during the exercise class or by
yourself. Tutors will be available during the exercise class to help with the assignment.
Homework assignments are mandatory, and the combined grade of the homework makes
30% of the final grade. The grade for the homework on this sheet corresponds to the
number of points obtained + 1. Maximally 9 points can be obtained.
Handing in your answers Submit your solution through Brightspace as a single PDF
file named [Link], where N is your student number. The document has to be
created using LATEX (or variants like XELATEX). A template is available on the website of
the course and on Blackboard. Please use the proper logic connectives and proof
rules as they are shown in the template. If you do not have a working LATEX installation,
then you can use Overleaf ([Link] Make sure that your name,
student number and studies are clearly written on the document. All students
have to prepare and submit their own solution. Only submit the 2 exercise(s) marked
as Homework. Answers have to be provided in Dutch or English. Submissions that
fail to meet these requirements are not considered.
Deadline Submit the homework before Friday 7th March 2025 11:59pm.
Learning Objectives After completing this assignment, you should be able to carry
out substitution of terms in first-order formulas and rename bound variables in
this process. Moreover, you should be able to prove sequents in first-order logic in
system ND1 and cND1 using Fitch-style.
Exercise 1
Let σ be given by
σ = [x := g(x)][y := x][z := y].
Evaluate the following applications of terms to σ.
a) x σ b) f (x, y) σ c) (y σ) σ d) x (σ[x := x])
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Exercise 2
Let σ be given by
σ = [x := g(x)][y := x][z := y]
and φ by
φ = ∀x. Q(x, y, z).
Determine which of the following relations hold.
a) x # σ b) y # σ c) z # σ
d) x # φ e) y # φ f) z # φ
Exercise 3
Let σ be given by
σ = [x := g(x)][y := x][z := y].
Carry out the following substitutions.
a) Q(x, g(m)) σ b) (∀x. Q(x, g(m))) σ
c) ((∃x. Q(x, g(m))) ∧ ∀y. Q(y, z)) σ
d) (∃y. Q(y, g(z)) ∧ ∀x. Q(y, f (x, z))) σ
Exercise 4
Prove the following sequents in system ND1 using Fitch style, where P and Q have arity
1, and S has arity 0.
a) x | P (x), ∀y. (P (y) → Q(y)) ⊢ Q(x)
b) ∃x. S → Q(x) ⊢ S → ∃y. Q(y)
c) ∀x. P (x) ⊢ ¬∃y. ¬P (y)
d) ∃x. P (x) ⊢ ¬∀y. ¬P (y)
Exercise 5
Prove the following sequents in system cND1 using Fitch style, where P has arity 1 and
· is the empty list. General hint: Use results that have been proved previously in the
lecture or in the exercises. Note that exercise b) is very hard!
a) ¬∀x. ¬P (x) ⊢ ∃y. P (y)
b) ¬∃x. ¬P (x) ⊢ ∀x. P (x)
c) j, k | · ⊢ ∃x. P (x) → P (j) ∧ P (k)
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Homework 1
/3 p.
We use the signature L with a function symbol f of arity two, two predicate symbols:
P of arity two and Q of arity three. Let σ be the substitution given by
σ = [y := f (x, z)]
and φ the formula given by
φ = ∀z. Q(z, y, x) ∨ ∃yP (x, y)
Carry out the substitution φ[σ] and annotate each step with the used axiom. (Hint:
write the formula with parentheses before carrying out substitution, by following Table
4.1 in Logic Rondo)
Homework 2
/6 p.
We use the signature L with predicate symbols P, Q of arity two and one, respectively.
Prove the following sequent in ND1 , using proof Rondo. (Write your proof in verbatim
environment. Only this way your proof can be graded.)
y | ∃x. P (x, y) ∧ Q(x) ⊢ ∃x. P (x, y) ∧ ∃x. Q(x)
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Solutions to the Exercises
Solution 1
a) x σ = σ(x) = g(x)
b) f (x, y) σ = f (σ(x), σ(y)) = f (g(x), x)
c) (y σ) σ = x σ = g(x)
d) x (σ[x := x]) = (σ[x := x])(x) = x
Solution 2
We have fv(φ) = {y, z}, var(σ(x)) = {x}, var(σ(y)) = {x}, var(σ(z)) = {y}, and
var(σ(v)) = {v} for all other variables v. This gives us
a) x is not fresh for σ, since x ∈ var(σ(y)).
b) y is not fresh for σ, since y ∈ var(σ(z)).
c) z is fresh for σ, since z ̸∈ var(σ(v)) for any variable v.
d) x is fresh for φ, since x ̸∈ fv(φ).
e) y is not fresh for φ, since y ∈ fv(φ).
f) z is not fresh for φ, since z ∈ fv(φ).
Solution 3
a) Q(x, g(m)) σ = Q(g(x), g(m))
b) Note that x is not fresh for σ and we cannot directly apply carry out the substi-
tution, even though y never appears in the formula. Instead, we do the following.
(∀x. Q(x, g(m))) σ = (∀x′ . Q(x′ , g(m))) σ (EQ)
′ ′ ′ ′
= ∀x . Q(x , g(m)) (σ[x := x ]) (SQ)
′ ′
= ∀x . Q(x , g(m)) (SP)
= ∀x. Q(x, g(m)) (EQ)
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c) Note that σ[x := x] = [y := x][z := y], which means that this updated substitution
does not affect the occurrences of x in the third step below.
((∃x. Q(x, g(m))) ∧ ∀y. Q(y, z)) σ
= ((∃x. Q(x, g(m)))) σ ∧ (∀y. Q(y, z)) σ (SC)
= (∃x. Q(x, g(m))) ∧ (∀y. Q(y, z)) σ (SQ)
′ ′
= (∃x. Q(x, g(m))) ∧ (∀y . Q(y , z)) σ (EQ)
′ ′
= (∃x. Q(x, g(m))) ∧ (∀y . Q(y , z) σ) (SQ)
′ ′
= (∃x. Q(x, g(m))) ∧ (∀y . Q(y , y)) (SP)
d)
(∃y. Q(y, g(z)) ∧ ∀x. Q(y, f (x, z))) σ
= (∃y ′ . Q(y ′ , g(z)) ∧ ∀x. Q(y ′ , f (x, z))) σ (EQ)
′ ′ ′
= ∃y . (Q(y , g(z)) ∧ ∀x. Q(y , f (x, z))) σ (SQ)
′ ′ ′
= ∃y . Q(y , g(z)) σ ∧ (∀x. Q(y , f (x, z))) σ (SC)
′ ′ ′
= ∃y . Q(y , g(y)) ∧ (∀x. Q(y , f (x, z))) σ (SP)
′ ′ ′ ′ ′
= ∃y . Q(y , g(y)) ∧ (∀x . Q(y , f (x , z))) σ (EQ)
′ ′ ′ ′ ′
= ∃y . Q(y , g(y)) ∧ ∀x . Q(y , f (x , z)) σ (SQ)
′ ′ ′ ′ ′
= ∃y . Q(y , g(y)) ∧ ∀x . Q(y , f (x , y)) (SP)
′ ′ ′
= ∃y . Q(y , g(y)) ∧ ∀x. Q(y , f (x, y)) (EQ)
In the last step, we used that x # Q(y ′ , f (x′ , y)). This step is not strictly necessary,
but shows that σ does not affect the binding of x because no variable is replaced
with a term that contains x.
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Solution 4
1 ∃x. S → Q(x)
1 x P (x) 2 S
2 ∀y. (P (y) → Q(y)) 3 x S → Q(x)
3 P (x) → Q(x) ∀E, 2 4 Q(x) →E, 2, 3
4 Q(x) →E, 1, 3 5 ∃y. Q(y) ∃I, 4
6 ∃y. Q(y) ∃E, 3–5
7 S → ∃y. Q(y) →I, 2–6
1 ∀x. P (x) 1 ∃x. P (x)
2 ∃y. ¬P (y) 2 x P (x)
3 y ¬P (y) 3 ∀y. ¬P (y)
4 P (y) ∀E, 1 4 ¬P (x) ∀E, 3
5 ⊥ ¬E, 3, 4 5 ⊥ ¬E, 2, 4
6 ⊥ ∃E, 3–5 6 ¬∀y. ¬P (y) ¬I, 3–5
7 ¬∃y. ¬P (y) ¬I, 2–6 7 ¬∀y. ¬P (y) ∃E, 2–6
Solution 5
a)
1 ¬∀x. ¬P (x)
2 ¬∃y. P (y)
3 ∀y. ¬P (y) ex:neg-ex-all-neg, 2
4 ⊥ ¬E, 1, 3
5 ∃y. P (y) Contra, 2–4
b)
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c)
1 j, k ¬(∃x. P (x) → P (j) ∧ P (k))
2 ∀x. ¬(P (x) → P (j) ∧ P (k)) ex:neg-ex-all-neg, 1
3 ¬(P (j) → P (j) ∧ P (k)) ∀E, 2
4 ¬(P (k) → P (j) ∧ P (k)) ∀E, 2
5 P (j)
6 ¬P (k)
7 P (k)
8 ⊥ ¬E, 6, 7
9 P (j) ∧ P (k) ⊥E, 8
10 P (k) → P (j) ∧ P (k) →I, 7–9
11 ⊥ ¬E, 4, 10
12 P (k) Contra, 6–11
13 P (j) ∧ P (k) ∧I, 5, 12
14 P (j) → P (j) ∧ P (k) →I, 5–13
15 ⊥ ¬E, 3, 14
16 ∃x. P (x) → P (j) ∧ P (k) Contra, 1–15
