This introduction to mathematical logic explores philosophical issues and Gödel's Theorem. Its widespread influence extends to the author of Gödel, Escher, Bach, whose Pulitzer Prize–winning book was inspired by this work.

This comprehensive overview ofmathematical logic is designedprimarily for advanced undergraduatesand graduate studentsof mathematics. The treatmentalso contains much of interest toadvanced students in computerscience and philosophy. Topics include propositional logic;first-order languages and logic; incompleteness, undecidability,and indefinability; recursive functions; computability;and Hilbert’s Tenth Problem.Reprint of the PWS Publishing Company, Boston, 1995edition.

Part I of this coherent, well-organized text deals with formal principles of inference and definition. Part II explores elementary intuitive set theory, with separate chapters on sets, relations, and functions. Ideal for undergraduates.

This is a compact mtroduction to some of the pnncipal tOpICS of mathematical logic . In the belief that beginners should be exposed to the most natural and easiest proofs, I have used free-swinging set-theoretic methods. The significance of a demand for constructive proofs can be evaluated only after a certain amount of experience with mathematical logic has been obtained. If we are to be expelled from "Cantor's paradise" (as nonconstructive set theory was called by Hilbert), at least we should know what we are missing. The major changes in this new edition are the following. (1) In Chapter 5, Effective Computability, Turing-computabIlity IS now the central notion, and diagrams (flow-charts) are used to construct Turing machines. There are also treatments of Markov algorithms, Herbrand-Godel-computability, register machines, and random access machines. Recursion theory is gone into a little more deeply, including the s-m-n theorem, the recursion theorem, and Rice's Theorem. (2) The proofs of the Incompleteness Theorems are now based upon the Diagonalization Lemma. Lob's Theorem and its connection with Godel's Second Theorem are also studied. (3) In Chapter 2, Quantification Theory, Henkin's proof of the completeness theorem has been postponed until the reader has gained more experience in proof techniques. The exposition of the proof itself has been improved by breaking it down into smaller pieces and using the notion of a scapegoat theory. There is also an entirely new section on semantic trees.

An excellent introduction to mathematical logic, this book provides readers with a sound knowledge of the most important approaches to the subject, stressing the use of logical methods in attacking nontrivial problems. Its chapters cover the logic of classes (including a section on the structure and representation of Boolean algebras, which are applied in the following chapters to the study of deductive systems), the logic of propositions, the logic of propositional functions (summarizing the methods of Russell, Quine, Zermelo, Curry, and Church for the construction of such logics), and the general syntax of language, with a brief introduction that also illustrates applications to so-called undecidability and incompleteness theorems. Other topics include the simple proof of the completeness of the theory of combinations, Church's theorem on the recursive unsolvability of the decision problem for the restricted function calculus, and the demonstrable properties of a formal system as a criterion for its acceptability.

Contents include an elementary but thorough overview of mathematical logic of 1st order; formal number theory; surveys of the work by Church, Turing, and others, including Gödel's completeness theorem, Gentzen's theorem, more.