ARTI 504 - KR&R

FIRST-ORDER
LOGIC
LM #2
 OUTLINE

• FIRST-ORDER LOGIC
• PROPERTIES, RELATIONS, FUNCTIONS, QUANTIFIERS, …
• TERMS, SENTENCES, AXIOMS, THEORIES, PROOFS, …
• EXTENSIONS TO FIRST-ORDER LOGIC
• LOGICAL AGENTS
• REFLEX AGENTS
• REPRESENTING CHANGE: SITUATION CALCULUS, FRAME
PROBLEM
• PREFERENCES ON ACTIONS
• GOAL-BASED AGENTS
 FIRST-ORDER LOGIC

• FIRST-ORDER LOGIC (FOL) MODELS THE WORLD IN TERMS OF

• OBJECTS, WHICH ARE THINGS WITH INDIVIDUAL IDENTITIES
• PROPERTIES OF OBJECTS THAT DISTINGUISH THEM FROM OTHER
OBJECTS
• RELATIONS THAT HOLD AMONG SETS OF OBJECTS
• FUNCTIONS, WHICH ARE A SUBSET OF RELATIONS WHERE THERE IS
ONLY ONE “VALUE” FOR ANY GIVEN “INPUT”

• EXAMPLES:
• OBJECTS: STUDENTS, LECTURES, COMPANIES, CARS ...
• RELATIONS: BROTHER-OF, BIGGER-THAN, OUTSIDE, PART-OF, HAS-COLOR,
OCCURS-AFTER, OWNS, VISITS, PRECEDES, ...
• PROPERTIES: BLUE, OVAL, EVEN, LARGE, ...
• FUNCTIONS: FATHER-OF, BEST-FRIEND, SECOND-HALF, ONE-MORE-THAN ...
• (FUNCTIONS ARE RELATIONS IN WHICH THERE IS ONLY ONE VALUE FOR A GIVEN INPUT)
 USER PROVIDES

• CONSTANT SYMBOLS, WHICH REPRESENT INDIVIDUALS IN THE WORLD

• MARY
• 3
• GREEN
• FUNCTION SYMBOLS, WHICH MAP INDIVIDUALS TO INDIVIDUALS
• FATHER-OF(MARY) = JOHN
• COLOR-OF(SKY) = BLUE
• PREDICATE SYMBOLS, WHICH MAP INDIVIDUALS TO TRUTH VALUES
• GREATER(5,3)
• GREEN(GRASS)
• COLOR(GRASS, GREEN)
 FOL PROVIDES

• VARIABLE SYMBOLS
• E.G., X, Y, FOO
• CONNECTIVES
• SAME AS IN PL: NOT (), AND (), OR (),
IMPLIES (), IF AND ONLY IF (BICONDITIONAL
)
• QUANTIFIERS
• UNIVERSAL X OR (AX)
• EXISTENTIAL X OR (EX)
 SENTENCES ARE BUILT FROM TERMS
AND ATOMS
• A TERM (DENOTING A REAL-WORLD INDIVIDUAL) IS A
CONSTANT SYMBOL, A VARIABLE SYMBOL, OR AN N-PLACE
FUNCTION OF N TERMS.
X AND F(X1, ..., XN) ARE TERMS, WHERE EACH XI IS A TERM.
A TERM WITH NO VARIABLES IS A GROUND TERM
• AN ATOMIC SENTENCE (WHICH HAS VALUE TRUE OR FALSE)
IS AN N-PLACE PREDICATE OF N TERMS
• A COMPLEX SENTENCE IS FORMED FROM ATOMIC
SENTENCES CONNECTED BY THE LOGICAL CONNECTIVES:
P, PQ, PQ, PQ, PQ WHERE P AND Q ARE SENTENCES
• A QUANTIFIED SENTENCE ADDS QUANTIFIERS  AND 
• A WELL-FORMED FORMULA (WFF) IS A SENTENCE
CONTAINING NO “FREE” VARIABLES. THAT IS, ALL VARIABLES
ARE “BOUND” BY UNIVERSAL OR EXISTENTIAL QUANTIFIERS.
(X)P(X,Y) HAS X BOUND AS A UNIVERSALLY QUANTIFIED VARIABLE,
BUT Y IS FREE.
 QUANTIFIERS
• UNIVERSAL QUANTIFICATION
• (X)P(X) MEANS THAT P HOLDS FOR ALL
VALUES OF X IN THE DOMAIN ASSOCIATED
WITH THAT VARIABLE
• E.G., (X) DOLPHIN(X)  MAMMAL(X)
• EXISTENTIAL QUANTIFICATION
• ( X)P(X) MEANS THAT P HOLDS FOR SOME
VALUE OF X IN THE DOMAIN ASSOCIATED
WITH THAT VARIABLE
• E.G., ( X) MAMMAL(X)  LAYS-EGGS(X)
• PERMITS ONE TO MAKE A STATEMENT
ABOUT SOME OBJECT WITHOUT NAMING IT
 QUANTIFIERS
• UNIVERSAL QUANTIFIERS ARE OFTEN USED WITH “IMPLIES” TO FORM “RULES”:
(X) STUDENT(X)  SMART(X) MEANS “ALL STUDENTS ARE SMART”

• UNIVERSAL QUANTIFICATION IS RARELY USED TO MAKE BLANKET STATEMENTS

ABOUT EVERY INDIVIDUAL IN THE WORLD:
(X)STUDENT(X)SMART(X) MEANS “EVERYONE IN THE WORLD IS A STUDENT AND IS SMART”

• EXISTENTIAL QUANTIFIERS ARE USUALLY USED WITH “AND” TO SPECIFY A LIST OF

PROPERTIES ABOUT AN INDIVIDUAL:
(X) STUDENT(X)  SMART(X) MEANS “THERE IS A STUDENT WHO IS SMART”

• A COMMON MISTAKE IS TO REPRESENT THIS ENGLISH SENTENCE AS THE FOL

SENTENCE:
(X) STUDENT(X)  SMART(X)
• BUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THERE IS A PERSON WHO IS NOT A STUDENT?
 QUANTIFIER SCOPE

• SWITCHING THE ORDER OF UNIVERSAL QUANTIFIERS DOES NOT

CHANGE THE MEANING:
• (X)(Y)P(X,Y) ↔ (Y)(X) P(X,Y)
• SIMILARLY, YOU CAN SWITCH THE ORDER OF EXISTENTIAL QUANTIFIERS:
• (X)(Y)P(X,Y) ↔ (Y)(X) P(X,Y)
• SWITCHING THE ORDER OF UNIVERSALS AND EXISTENTIALS DOES
CHANGE MEANING:
• EVERYONE LIKES SOMEONE: (X)(Y) LIKES(X,Y)
• SOMEONE IS LIKED BY EVERYONE: (Y)(X) LIKES(X,Y)
CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ALL
AND EXISTS
WE CAN RELATE SENTENCES
INVOLVING  AND  USING DE
MORGAN’S LAWS:
(X) P(X) ↔ (X) P(X)
(X) P ↔ (X) P(X)
(X) P(X) ↔  (X) P(X)
(X) P(X) ↔ (X) P(X)
 QUANTIFIED INFERENCE RULES

• UNIVERSAL INSTANTIATION
• X P(X)  P(A)

• UNIVERSAL GENERALIZATION
• P(A)  P(B) …  X P(X)

• EXISTENTIAL INSTANTIATION
• X P(X) P(F)  SKOLEM CONSTANT F

• EXISTENTIAL GENERALIZATION
• P(A)  X P(X)
 UNIVERSAL INSTANTIATION
(A.K.A. UNIVERSAL ELIMINATION)
• IF (X) P(X) IS TRUE, THEN P(C) IS TRUE, WHERE C IS
ANY CONSTANT IN THE DOMAIN OF X
• EXAMPLE:
(X) EATS(ZIGGY, X)  EATS(ZIGGY,
ICECREAM)
• THE VARIABLE SYMBOL CAN BE REPLACED BY ANY
GROUND TERM, I.E., ANY CONSTANT SYMBOL OR
FUNCTION SYMBOL APPLIED TO GROUND TERMS ONLY
 Skolem constant
A Skolem constant is a new constant that is
substituted for a variable when
eliminating an existential quantifier from a fact
or a universal quantifier from a conjecture.
For example, the fact \A x (f(x) = c) can be
obtained by eliminating the existential quantifier
from \E y \A x (f(x) = y) and replacing y by
the Skolem constant c as long as c does not
appear
in any other fact or in the current conjecture, this
Skolemization represents
a conservative extension of LP's logical system.
LP, the Larch Prover -- Forward
 EXISTENTIAL INSTANTIATION
(A.K.A. EXISTENTIAL
ELIMINATION)
• FROM (X) P(X) INFER P(C)
• EXAMPLE:
• (X) EATS(ZIGGY, X)  EATS(ZIGGY, STUFF)
• NOTE THAT THE VARIABLE IS REPLACED BY A BRAND-NEW
CONSTANT NOT OCCURRING IN THIS OR ANY OTHER SENTENCE IN
THE KB
• ALSO KNOWN AS SKOLEMIZATION; CONSTANT IS A SKOLEM
CONSTANT
• IN OTHER WORDS, WE DON’T WANT TO ACCIDENTALLY DRAW OTHER
INFERENCES ABOUT IT BY INTRODUCING THE CONSTANT
• CONVENIENT TO USE THIS TO REASON ABOUT THE UNKNOWN
OBJECT, RATHER THAN CONSTANTLY MANIPULATING THE EXISTENTIAL
QUANTIFIER
 EXISTENTIAL GENERALIZATION
(A.K.A. EXISTENTIAL
INTRODUCTION)
• IF P(C) IS TRUE, THEN (X) P(X) IS INFERRED.
• EXAMPLE
EATS(ZIGGY, ICECREAM)  (X) EATS(ZIGGY,
X)
• ALL INSTANCES OF THE GIVEN CONSTANT SYMBOL ARE
REPLACED BY THE NEW VARIABLE SYMBOL
• NOTE THAT THE VARIABLE SYMBOL CANNOT ALREADY
EXIST ANYWHERE IN THE EXPRESSION
 TRANSLATING ENGLISH TO FOL
EVERY GARDENER LIKES THE SUN.
X GARDENER(X)  LIKES(X,SUN)
YOU CAN FOOL SOME OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME.
X T PERSON(X) TIME(T)  CAN-FOOL(X,T)
YOU CAN FOOL ALL OF THE PEOPLE SOME OF THE TIME.
X T (PERSON(X)  TIME(T) CAN-FOOL(X,T)) Equivalent
X (PERSON(X)  T (TIME(T) CAN-FOOL(X,T))
ALL PURPLE MUSHROOMS ARE POISONOUS.
X (MUSHROOM(X)  PURPLE(X))  POISONOUS(X)
NO PURPLE MUSHROOM IS POISONOUS.
X PURPLE(X)  MUSHROOM(X)  POISONOUS(X)
X (MUSHROOM(X)  PURPLE(X))  POISONOUS(X) Equivalent
THERE ARE EXACTLY TWO PURPLE MUSHROOMS.
X Y MUSHROOM(X)  PURPLE(X)  MUSHROOM(Y)  PURPLE(Y) ^ (X=Y) 
Z (MUSHROOM(Z)  PURPLE(Z))  ((X=Z)  (Y=Z))
CLINTON IS NOT TALL.
TALL(CLINTON)
X IS ABOVE Y IFF X IS ON DIRECTLY ON TOP OF Y OR THERE IS A PILE
OF ONE OR MORE OTHER OBJECTS DIRECTLY ON TOP OF ONE
ANOTHER STARTING WITH X AND ENDING WITH Y.
X Y ABOVE(X,Y) ↔ (ON(X,Y)  Z (ON(X,Z)  ABOVE(Z,Y)))
 EXAMPLE: A SIMPLE GENEALOGY KB
BY FOL
• BUILD A SMALL GENEALOGY KNOWLEDGE BASE USING FOL THAT
• CONTAINS FACTS OF IMMEDIATE FAMILY RELATIONS (SPOUSES)
• CONTAINS DEFINITIONS OF MORE COMPLEX RELATIONS
(ANCESTORS, RELATIVES)
• IS ABLE TO ANSWER QUERIES ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS
BETWEEN PEOPLE
• PREDICATES:
• PARENT(X, Y), CHILD(X, Y), FATHER(X, Y), DAUGHTER(X, Y),
ETC.
• SPOUSE(X, Y), HUSBAND(X, Y), WIFE(X,Y)
• ANCESTOR(X, Y), DESCENDANT(X, Y)
• MALE(X), FEMALE(Y)
• RELATIVE(X, Y)
• FACTS:
• HUSBAND(JOE, MARY), SON(FRED, JOE)
• SPOUSE(JOHN, NANCY), MALE(JOHN), SON(MARK, NANCY)
• FATHER(JACK, NANCY), DAUGHTER(LINDA, JACK)
• DAUGHTER(LIZ, LINDA)
• ETC.