Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-logic-and-set-theory-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2009/a/3/c/ii/solution
Past exam of the logic and set theory course of the University of Oxford 2009 A 3 c ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
For each term define an -formula expressing its value. Use fresh bound variables at every step:Freshness includes avoiding all relevant free variables of the formula being translated. Define the atomic translation byand extend through the logical operations: , , and . Fresh witnesses prevent variable capture and ensure the translation preserves the original free-variable set.
For an -structure , let have the graph relation of and singleton relation . Induction on terms proves that holds precisely when is the value of . Induction on formulas then provesConversely every -structure satisfying is uniquely the relational version of an -structure on that same domain. Hence, for arbitrary possibly infinite , semantic entailment on the left is equivalent to semantic entailment from on the right, with assignments retained in the free-formula case. Applying soundness theorem for first-order logic and Gödel's completeness theorem givesThe prohibition on completeness in the preceding direct equality question is local to that proof; here it supplies the clean semantic-to-syntactic transfer after the actual translation and model correspondence have been established.
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