Finite Model Theory

Heinz-Dieter Ebbinghaus, Jörg Flum

ISBN 10: 3540287876 / ISBN 13: 9783540287872

Published by Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH and Co. KG, DE, 2005

About this Item

Finite model theory, the model theory of finite structures, has roots in clas­ sical model theory; however, its systematic development was strongly influ­ enced by research and questions of complexity theory and of database theory. Model theory or the theory of models, as it was first named by Tarski in 1954, may be considered as the part of the semantics of formalized languages that is concerned with the interplay between the syntactic structure of an axiom system on the one hand and (algebraic, settheoretic, . . . ) properties of its models on the other hand. As it turned out, first-order language (we mostly speak of first-order logic) became the most prominent language in this respect, the reason being that it obeys some fundamental principles such as the compactness theorem and the completeness theorem. These principles are valuable modeltheoretic tools and, at the same time, reflect the expressive weakness of first-order logic. This weakness is the breeding ground for the freedomwhich modeltheoretic methods rest upon. By compactness, any first-order axiom system either has only finite models of limited cardinality or has infinite models. The first case is trivial because finitely many finite structures can explicitly be described by a first-order sentence. As model theory usually considers all models of an axiom system, modeltheorists were thus led to the second case, that is, to infinite structures. In fact, classical model theory of first-order logic and its generalizations to stronger languages live in the realm of the infinite.

Seller Inventory # LU-9783540287872

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Finite Model Theory
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH and Co. KG, DE
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3540287876
• ISBN 13: 9783540287872
• Binding: Hardback
• Edition: 2nd ed. 1999. 2nd printing 2005.
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Finite model theory, the model theory of finite structures, has roots in clas­ sical model theory; however, its systematic development was strongly influ­ enced by research and questions of complexity theory and of database theory. Model theory or the theory of models, as it was first named by Tarski in 1954, may be considered as the part of the semantics of formalized languages that is concerned with the interplay between the syntactic structure of an axiom system on the one hand and (algebraic, settheoretic, . . . ) properties of its models on the other hand. As it turned out, first-order language (we mostly speak of first-order logic) became the most prominent language in this respect, the reason being that it obeys some fundamental principles such as the compactness theorem and the completeness theorem. These principles are valuable modeltheoretic tools and, at the same time, reflect the expressive weakness of first-order logic. This weakness is the breeding ground for the freedomwhich modeltheoretic methods rest upon. By compactness, any first-order axiom system either has only finite models of limited cardinality or has infinite models. The first case is trivial because finitely many finite structures can explicitly be described by a first-order sentence. As model theory usually considers all models of an axiom system, modeltheorists were thus led to the second case, that is, to infinite structures. In fact, classical model theory of first-order logic and its generalizations to stronger languages live in the realm of the infinite.

Synopsis

This book presents the main results of descriptive complexity theory, that is, the connections between axiomatizability of classes of finite structures and their complexity with respect to time and space bounds. The logic that is important in this context include fixed-point logic, transitive closure logic, and also certain infinitary languages - their model theory is studied in full detail. Other topics include DATALOG languages, quantifiers and oracles, 0-1 laws, and optimization and approximation problems. The book is written in such a way that the respective parts on model theory and descriptive complexity theory may be read independently. This second edition is a thoroughly revised and enlarged version of the original text.