In logic, a set of symbols is commonly used to express logical representation. The following table lists many common symbols, together with their name, how they should be read out loud, and the related field of mathematics. Additionally, the subsequent columns contains an informal explanation, a short example, the Unicode location, the name for use in HTML documents,[1] and the LaTeX symbol.
Basic logic symbols
Symbol | Unicode value (hexadecimal) |
HTML value (decimal) |
HTML entity (named) |
LaTeX symbol |
Logic Name | Read as | Category | Explanation | Examples |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
⇒ → ⊃ |
U+21D2 U+2192 U+2283 |
⇒ → ⊃ |
⇒ → ⊃ |
\Rightarrow \implies \to or \rightarrow \supset |
material conditional (material implication) | implies, if ... then ..., it is not the case that ... and not ... |
propositional logic, Boolean algebra, Heyting algebra | is false when A is true and B is false but true otherwise. may mean the same as (the symbol may also indicate the domain and codomain of a function; see table of mathematical symbols). may mean the same as (the symbol may also mean superset). |
is true, but is in general false (since x could be −2). |
⇔ ↔ ≡ |
U+21D4 U+2194 U+2261 |
⇔ ↔ ≡ |
⇔ ↔ ≡ |
\Leftrightarrow \iff \leftrightarrow \equiv |
material biconditional (material equivalence) | if and only if, iff, xnor | propositional logic, Boolean algebra | is true only if both A and B are false, or both A and B are true. Whether a symbol means a material biconditional or a logical equivalence, it depends on the author’s style. | |
¬ ~ ! |
U+00AC U+007E U+0021 |
¬ ˜ ! |
¬ ˜ ! |
\lnot or \neg \sim |
negation | not | propositional logic, Boolean algebra | The statement is true if and only if A is false. A slash placed through another operator is the same as placed in front. |
|
∧ · & |
U+2227 U+00B7 U+0026 |
∧ · & |
∧ · & |
logical conjunction | and | propositional logic, Boolean algebra | The statement A ∧ B is true if A and B are both true; otherwise, it is false. | ||
∨ + ∥ |
U+2228 U+002B U+2225 |
∨ + ∥ |
∨ + ∥ |
\lor or \vee \parallel |
logical (inclusive) disjunction | or | propositional logic, Boolean algebra | The statement A ∨ B is true if A or B (or both) are true; if both are false, the statement is false. | n ≥ 4 ∨ n ≤ 2 ⇔ n ≠ 3 when n is a natural number. |
⊻ ⊕ ↮ ≢ |
U+22BB U+2295 U+21AE U+2262 |
⊻ ⊕ ↮ ≢ |
⊻ ⊕ ≢ |
\veebar \oplus \not\equiv |
exclusive disjunction | xor, either ... or ... (but not both) |
propositional logic, Boolean algebra | The statement A ⊻ B is true when either A or B, but not both, are true. This is equivalent to ¬(A ↔ B), hence the symbols and . |
|
⊤ T 1 |
U+22A4 |
⊤ |
⊤ |
\top |
true (tautology) | top, truth, tautology, verum, full clause | propositional logic, Boolean algebra, first-order logic | denotes a proposition that is always true. | The proposition is always true since at least one of the two is unconditionally true. |
⊥ F 0 |
U+22A5 |
⊥ |
⊥ |
\bot |
false (contradiction) | bottom, falsity, contradiction, falsum, empty clause | propositional logic, Boolean algebra, first-order logic | denotes a proposition that is always false. The symbol ⊥ may also refer to perpendicular lines. |
The proposition is always false since at least one of the two is unconditionally false. |
∀ () |
U+2200 |
∀ |
∀ |
\forall |
universal quantification | given any, for all, for every, for each, for any | first-order logic | or says “given any , has property .” |
|
∃ |
U+2203 | ∃ | ∃ | \exists | existential quantification | there exists | first-order logic | says “there exists an x (at least one) such that has property .” | n is even. |
∃! |
U+2203 U+0021 | ∃ ! | ∃! | \exists ! | uniqueness quantification | there exists exactly one | first-order logic | says “there exists exactly one x such that x has property P.” Only and are part of formal logic. is a shorthand for |
|
( ) |
U+0028 U+0029 | ( ) | ( ) |
( ) | precedence grouping | parentheses; brackets | everywhere | Perform the operations inside the parentheses first. | (8 ÷ 4) ÷ 2 = 2 ÷ 2 = 1, but 8 ÷ (4 ÷ 2) = 8 ÷ 2 = 4. |
U+1D53B | 𝔻 | 𝔻 | \mathbb{D} | domain of discourse | domain of discourse | first-order logic (semantics) | |||
⊢ |
U+22A2 | ⊢ | ⊢ | \vdash | turnstile | syntactically entails (proves) | metalogic | says “ is a theorem of ”. In other words, proves via a deductive system. |
|
⊨ |
U+22A8 | ⊨ | ⊨ | \vDash, \models | double turnstile | semantically entails | metalogic | says “in every model, it is not the case that is true and is false”. |
|
≡ ⟚ ⇔ |
U+2261 U+27DA U+21D4 |
≡ ⇔ |
≡ ⇔ |
\equiv \Leftrightarrow |
logical equivalence | is logically equivalent to | metalogic | It’s when and . Whether a symbol means a material biconditional or a logical equivalence, it depends on the author’s style. | |
⊬ |
U+22AC | ⊬\nvdash | does not syntactically entail (does not prove) | metalogic | says “ is not a theorem of ”. In other words, is not derivable from via a deductive system. |
||||
⊭ |
U+22AD | ⊭\nvDash | does not semantically entail | metalogic | says “ does not guarantee the truth of ”. In other words, does not make true. |
||||
□ |
U+25A1 | \Box | logical necessity within a model | box; it is necessary that | modal logic | modal operator for “it is necessary that” in alethic logic, “it is provable that” in provability logic, “it is obligatory that” in deontic logic, “it is believed that” in doxastic logic. |
says “it is necessary that everything has property P” | ||
◇ |
U+25C7 | \Diamond | logical possibility within a model | diamond; it is possible that | modal logic | modal operator for “it is possible that”, (in most modal logics it is defined as “¬□¬”, “it is not necessarily not”). | says “it is possible that something has property P” | ||
∴ |
U+2234 | ∴\therefore | therefore | therefore | informal metalanguage | shorthand for “therefore”. | |||
∵ |
U+2235 | ∵\because | because | because | informal metalanguage | shorthand for “because”. | |||
≔ ≡ |
U+2254 (U+003A U+003D) U+2261 |
≔ (: =)
|
≔
|
:=
|
definition (between terms) | is defined as | informal metalanguage | (or ) means is defined to be another name for . This notation seems to have its origin in coding. However, from the standpoint of formal logic, there is no difference between and , since equality is a symmetric relation. |
Advanced or rarely used logical symbols
These symbols are sorted by their Unicode value:
Symbol | Unicode value (hexadecimal) |
HTML value (decimal) |
HTML entity (named) |
LaTeX symbol |
Logic Name | Read as | Category | Explanation | Examples |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
̅ |
U+0305 | COMBINING OVERLINE | used format for denoting Gödel numbers.
denoting negation used primarily in electronics. |
using HTML style “4̅” is a shorthand for the standard numeral “SSSS0”.
“A ∨ B” says the Gödel number of “(A ∨ B)”. “A ∨ B” is the same as “¬(A ∨ B)”. | |||||
↑ | |
U+2191 U+007C |
UPWARDS ARROW VERTICAL LINE |
Sheffer stroke, the sign for the NAND operator (negation of conjunction). |
||||||
↓ |
U+2193 | DOWNWARDS ARROW | Peirce Arrow, the sign for the NOR operator (negation of disjunction). |
||||||
⊙ |
U+2299 | \odot | CIRCLED DOT OPERATOR | the sign for the XNOR operator (negation of exclusive disjunction). | |||||
∁ |
U+2201 | COMPLEMENT | |||||||
∄ |
U+2204 | ∄\nexists | THERE DOES NOT EXIST | strike out existential quantifier, same as “¬∃” | |||||
⊧ |
U+22A7 | MODELS | is a model of (or “is a valuation satisfying”) | ||||||
† |
U+2020 | DAGGER | it is true that ... | Affirmation operator | |||||
⊼ |
U+22BC | NAND | NAND operator | ||||||
⊽ |
U+22BD | NOR | NOR operator | ||||||
⋆ |
U+22C6 | STAR OPERATOR | usually used for ad-hoc operators | ||||||
⊥ ↓ |
U+22A5 U+2193 |
UP TACK DOWNWARDS ARROW |
Webb-operator or Peirce arrow, the sign for NOR. Confusingly, “⊥” is also the sign for contradiction or absurdity. |
||||||
⌐ |
U+2310 | REVERSED NOT SIGN | |||||||
⌜ ⌝ |
U+231C U+231D |
\ulcorner
\urcorner |
TOP LEFT CORNER TOP RIGHT CORNER |
corner quotes, also called “Quine quotes”; for quasi-quotation, i.e. quoting specific context of unspecified (“variable”) expressions;[3] also used for denoting Gödel number;[4] for example “⌜G⌝” denotes the Gödel number of G. (Typographical note: although the quotes appears as a “pair” in unicode (231C and 231D), they are not symmetrical in some fonts. In some fonts (for example Arial) they are only symmetrical in certain sizes. Alternatively the quotes can be rendered as ⌈ and ⌉ (U+2308 and U+2309) or by using a negation symbol and a reversed negation symbol ⌐ ¬ in superscript mode. ) | |||||
⟚ |
U+27DA | LEFT AND RIGHT DOUBLE TURNSTILE | semantic equivalent | ||||||
⟛ |
U+27DB | LEFT AND RIGHT TACK | syntactic equivalent | ||||||
⊩ |
U+22A9 | FORCES | one of this symbol’s uses is to mean “models” in modal logic, as in 𝔐, 𝑤 ⊩ 𝑃 . | ||||||
⟡ |
U+27E1 | WHITE CONCAVE-SIDED DIAMOND | never | modal operator | |||||
⟢ |
U+27E2 | WHITE CONCAVE-SIDED DIAMOND WITH LEFTWARDS TICK | was never | modal operator | |||||
⟣ |
U+27E3 | WHITE CONCAVE-SIDED DIAMOND WITH RIGHTWARDS TICK | will never be | modal operator | |||||
⟤ |
U+25A4 | WHITE SQUARE WITH LEFTWARDS TICK | was always | modal operator | |||||
⟥ |
U+25A5 | WHITE SQUARE WITH RIGHTWARDS TICK | will always be | modal operator | |||||
⥽ |
U+297D | \strictif | RIGHT FISH TAIL | sometimes used for “relation”, also used for denoting various ad hoc relations (for example, for denoting “witnessing” in the context of Rosser's trick) The fish hook is also used as strict implication by C.I.Lewis ⥽ . See here for an image of glyph. Added to Unicode 3.2.0. | |||||
⨇ |
U+2A07 | TWO LOGICAL AND OPERATOR |
Usage in various countries
Poland
As of 2014 in Poland, the universal quantifier is sometimes written , and the existential quantifier as . The same applies for Germany.
Japan
The ⇒ symbol is often used in text to mean "result" or "conclusion", as in "We examined whether to sell the product ⇒ We will not sell it". Also, the → symbol is often used to denote "changed to", as in the sentence "The interest rate changed. March 20% → April 21%".
See also
- Józef Maria Bocheński
- List of notation used in Principia Mathematica
- List of mathematical symbols
- Logic alphabet, a suggested set of logical symbols
- Logic gate § Symbols
- Logical connective
- Mathematical operators and symbols in Unicode
- Non-logical symbol
- Polish notation
- Truth function
- Truth table
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Logic/Standards for notation
References
- ↑ "Named character references". HTML 5.1 Nightly. W3C. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
- ↑ Although this character is available in LaTeX, the MediaWiki TeX system does not support it.
- ↑ Quine, W.V. (1981): Mathematical Logic, §6
- ↑ Hintikka, Jaakko (1998), The Principles of Mathematics Revisited, Cambridge University Press, p. 113, ISBN 9780521624985.
Further reading
- Józef Maria Bocheński (1959), A Précis of Mathematical Logic, trans., Otto Bird, from the French and German editions, Dordrecht, South Holland: D. Reidel.
External links
- Named character entities in HTML 4.0