Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 1 16I Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
The completeness theorem for propositional logic states that for every set of formulae and formula ,With the soundness theorem for propositional logic, this is an equivalence. It is also equivalent to saying that every consistent set of formulae has a model.
The usual countable proof lists all formulae and extends a consistent theory one formula at a time. For an uncountable set of primitive propositions, use the uncountable-language proof of propositional completeness: order the consistent extensions of by inclusion. The union of every chain is consistent, since a proof of a contradiction would use only finitely many assumptions and hence would already lie in one member of the chain. Zorn lemma gives a maximal consistent set in propositional logic . Define a Boolean valuation by exactly when . The usual structural induction on formulae proves the truth lemmaso is a model of .
The propositional compactness theorem says that a set is satisfiable if and only if every finite subset of is satisfiable. Only the forward implication is immediate. For the converse, if had no model, then , so completeness would give . Every formal proof uses finitely many assumptions, so some finite would prove and, by soundness, would have no model, a contradiction.
The decidability theorem for propositional logic says that there is an algorithm deciding whether a propositional formula is a theorem. A formula contains only finitely many primitive propositions, even when the full language is uncountable. Its finite truth table decides whether it is valid, and completeness says that validity is equivalent to theoremhood.
Now let be the given partially ordered set. For every distinct , introduce propositions and . Form a propositional theory containing the following clauses:
- and for distinct ;
- and for pairwise distinct ;
- and whenever in the original order;
- and whenever and are incomparable in the original order.
The first two families say that and encode strict total orders. The third makes both orders extend , while the fourth makes them disagree on every incomparable pair.
Every finite subset mentions only a finite subset . By hypothesis, the induced order on is a two-dimensional poset, so choose two total orders realizing it and assign the finitely many and variables accordingly. This satisfies . Thus every finite subset of is satisfiable, and propositional compactness gives a model of all of .
Define when is true and when is true. The clauses make and total orders on . They both contain the original order, and their intersection contains no incomparable pair. Hencewhich proves the finite-local characterization of two-dimensional partially ordered sets.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 2 16H a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Define a valuation on primitive propositions byThe assumptions say exactly that is a maximal consistent set in propositional logic. A structural induction on formulae provesFor example, consistency and the decision property give exactly when , while deductive closure gives exactly when both ; the other connectives follow similarly. Every member of is therefore true under , so
Propositional compactness theorem Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
A set of propositions has a model exactly when every finite subset has a model. Syntactically, a contradiction uses only finitely many assumptions, and every consistent set extends by Zorn lemma to a maximal consistent set in propositional logic.
Uncountable-language proof of propositional completeness Created 2026-09-29 Updated 2026-10-06
When the primitive propositions are not countable, replace sequential enumeration of the formulae by Zorn lemma. The union of a chain of consistent extensions is consistent because every formal proof is finite, so every consistent theory extends to a maximal consistent set in propositional logic. Declaring an atom true exactly when it belongs to that maximal set and proving the truth lemma by structural induction produces a model.