In
mathematical logic
Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory. Research in mathematical logic commonly addresses the mathematical properties of formal ...
, a first-order predicate is a
predicate
Predicate or predication may refer to:
* Predicate (grammar), in linguistics
* Predication (philosophy)
* several closely related uses in mathematics and formal logic:
**Predicate (mathematical logic)
**Propositional function
**Finitary relation, ...
that takes only individual(s) constants or variables as argument(s).
[.] Compare
second-order predicate
In mathematical logic, a second-order predicate is a predicate that takes a first-order predicate as an argument. Compare higher-order predicate.
The idea of second order predication was introduced by the German mathematician and philosopher Freg ...
and
higher-order predicate
mathematics and logic, a higher-order logic is a form of predicate logic that is distinguished from first-order logic by additional quantifiers and, sometimes, stronger semantics. Higher-order logics with their standard semantics are more expre ...
.
This is not to be confused with a one-place predicate or monad, which is a predicate that takes only one argument. For example, the expression "is a planet" is a one-place predicate, while the expression "is father of" is a two-place predicate.
See also
*
First-order predicate calculus
First-order logic—also known as predicate logic, quantificational logic, and first-order predicate calculus—is a collection of formal systems used in mathematics, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science. First-order logic uses quantif ...
*
Monadic predicate calculus In logic, the monadic predicate calculus (also called monadic first-order logic) is the fragment of first-order logic in which all relation symbols in the signature are monadic (that is, they take only one argument), and there are no function symbo ...
References
Predicate logic
Concepts in logic
{{Logic-stub