Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/ii/paper-1/13i/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 1 13I Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The completeness theorem for propositional logic states that if and only if . Soundness follows by checking that axioms are tautologies and inference rules preserve truth. For completeness it suffices to prove that every syntactically consistent set has a model.
The deduction theorem for propositional logic used here is: if and only if , in classical propositional logic. A proof is finite, so the union of a chain of consistent sets remains consistent: a contradiction would already occur in one member. By Zorn's lemma, extend a consistent to a maximal consistent set . If , adding yields a contradiction; the deduction theorem gives , and maximal consistency puts in . Conversely and cannot both belong to . Maximal consistency also makes deductively closed.
Assign each primitive proposition the truth value true precisely when it belongs to . The maximal consistent set truth lemma follows by induction on formulas. For negation use the preceding dichotomy. For implication, if or , the classical implication axioms put in ; if and , modus ponens prevents that implication from belonging to . This is exactly its truth table. Other connectives are defined from these or handled by the same induction. The resulting valuation satisfies all of , hence all of .
If , the deduction theorem and classical contradiction rules show is consistent. Its model falsifies , so . This proves completeness.
The propositional compactness theorem says is satisfiable if every finite subset is satisfiable. Otherwise completeness would make inconsistent, and a finite proof of contradiction would involve only finitely many assumptions, contradicting their satisfiability. Equivalently, every semantic consequence of is a consequence of a finite subset. The decidability theorem for propositional logic says there is an algorithm deciding whether a formula is provable with no assumptions: enumerate all truth assignments to its finitely many primitive propositions, check whether it is a tautology, and use soundness and completeness to identify tautologies with theorems. This does not claim an algorithm for arbitrary infinitely presented theories.
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