The strong completeness of the tableau method
ISSN: 0212-6192
Year of publication: 1998
Issue: 31-32
Pages: 297-308
Type: Article
More publications in: Contextos
Abstract
for the predicate calculus as to obtain a direct proof (without using compactness) of the fact that the most user-friendly formal method of deduction, the Beth-Smullyan method of first-order tableaux, is similarly complete, in the sense that if a formula . is a first-order consequence of an arbitrary set �³ of formulas, there is a finite subset �³0 of �³ such that the set �³0 �¾ { �Ê. } generates a closed tableau. Also, an incidental remark will be made concerning the monotony of the method of tableaux, on a problem which has led to a technical mistake in some of the published literature.