Click on a class day to go to that particular lecture or recitation. Due
dates for homeworks are set in bold. The due date
of the next homework blinks.
This course has the purpose of introducing first and second year students to
elements of formal logic as well as to the historical context in which this
discipline developed. As many courses in the undergraduate curriculum rely on
students having mastered basic logical notions and skills, it will test and
enhance your preparation, thereby putting you in a better position to succeed
in your program. It will also help you understand and appreciate how aspect of
modern mathematics and computer science came about since these disciplines
grew out of logic.
This course is divided into four parts:
Analysis of Informal Arguments
Sentential Logic: Boolean operations, semantics, and derivations
Predicate Logic with equality: quantifiers, semantics and derivations
Formalization of mathematics: elementary set theory, Cantor's theorem; incompleteness; Turing machines and undecidability of predicate logic
This course is a gateway to the fascinating and multifaceted world of computational logic. If you find it enjoyable, you may also like 15-312 Foundations of Programming Languages (a systematic, logic-based investigation to programming languages), 15-317 Constructive Logic (the use of logic to express algorithms and computation), 15-414 Bug Catching: Automated Program Verification and Testing (the use of a logical technique known as model-checking to verify complex systems), and 80-311 Computability and Incompleteness (a study of the logical foundations of Computer Science).
It is our goal to make this course successful, stimulating and enjoyable. If at any time you feel that the course is not meeting your expectations or you want to provide feedback on how the course is progressing for you, please . If you would like to provide anonymous comments, please use the feedback form on the course home page or slide a note under my door. Comments of general interest will be answered on the course discussion board.
Collaboration is regulated by the whiteboard policy: you can bounce ideas about an assignment, but when it comes to typing it down for submission, you are on your own — no notes, snapshots, etc., you can at most reconstruct the reasoning from memory.
Class etiquette
Attendance is mandatory
Arrive on time: latecomers will not be allowed in class
