In first-order logic, a Herbrand structure S is a structure over a vocabulary σ that is defined solely by the syntactical properties of σ. The idea is to take the symbol strings of terms as their values, e.g. the denotation of a constant symbol c is just "c" (the symbol). It is named after Jacques Herbrand.

Herbrand structures play an important role in the foundations of logic programming.[1]

Herbrand universe

Definition

The Herbrand universe serves as the universe in the Herbrand structure.

  1. The Herbrand universe of a first-order language Lσ, is the set of all ground terms of Lσ. If the language has no constants, then the language is extended by adding an arbitrary new constant.
    • The Herbrand universe is countably infinite if σ is countable and a function symbol of arity greater than 0 exists.
    • In the context of first-order languages we also speak simply of the Herbrand universe of the vocabulary σ.
  2. The Herbrand universe of a closed formula in Skolem normal form F is the set of all terms without variables that can be constructed using the function symbols and constants of F. If F has no constants, then F is extended by adding an arbitrary new constant.

Example

Let Lσ, be a first-order language with the vocabulary

  • constant symbols: c
  • function symbols: f(·), g(·)

then the Herbrand universe of Lσ (or σ) is {c, f(c), g(c), f(f(c)), f(g(c)), g(f(c)), g(g(c)), ...}.

Notice that the relation symbols are not relevant for a Herbrand universe.

Herbrand structure

A Herbrand structure interprets terms on top of a Herbrand universe.

Definition

Let S be a structure, with vocabulary σ and universe U. Let W be the set of all terms over σ and W0 be the subset of all variable-free terms. S is said to be a Herbrand structure iff

  1. U = W0
  2. fS(t1, ..., tn) = f(t1, ..., tn) for every n-ary function symbol fσ and t1, ..., tnW0
  3. cS = c for every constant c in σ

Remarks

  1. U is the Herbrand universe of σ.
  2. A Herbrand structure that is a model of a theory T is called a Herbrand model of T.

Examples

For a constant symbol c and a unary function symbol f(.) we have the following interpretation:

  • U = {c, fc, ffc, fffc, ...}
  • fcfc, ffcffc, ...
  • cc

Herbrand base

In addition to the universe, defined in § Herbrand universe, and the term denotations, defined in § Herbrand structure, the Herbrand base completes the interpretation by denoting the relation symbols.

Definition

A Herbrand base is the set of all ground atoms whose argument terms are elements of the Herbrand universe.

Examples

For a binary relation symbol R, we get with the terms from above:

{R(c, c), R(fc, c), R(c, fc), R(fc, fc), R(ffc, c), ...}

See also

Notes

  1. "Herbrand Semantics".

References

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