Elements of Finite Model Theory
By: by Leonid Libkin
Series: Texts in Theoretical Computer Science, An EATCS Series; Texts in Theoretical Computer Science, An EATCS Series
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Berlin, Heidelberg
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] /
Number of pages: 318
ISBN-13: 9783642059483; 9783662070031
Subjects: Computer software; Symbolic and mathematical Logic; Computer science; Database management
Description: This book is an introduction to finite model theory which stresses the computer science origins of the area. In addition to presenting the main techniques for analyzing logics over finite models, the book deals extensively with applications in databases, complexity theory, and formal languages, as well as other branches of computer science. It covers Ehrenfeucht-Fraïssé games, locality-based techniques, complexity analysis of logics, including the basics of descriptive complexity, second-order logic and its fragments, connections with finite automata, fixed point logics, finite variable logics, zero-one laws, and embedded finite models, and gives a brief tour of recently discovered applications of finite model theory. This book can be used both as an introduction to the subject, suitable for a one- or two-semester graduate course, or as reference for researchers who apply techniques from logic in computer science.
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Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Preliminaries; title: Ehrenfeuch-Fraissé Games; title: Locality and Winning Games; title: Ordered Structures; title: Complexity of First-Order Logic; title: Monadic Second Order Logic and Automata; title: Logics with Counting; title: Turing Machines and Finite Models; title: Fixed Point Logics and Complexity Classes; title: Finite Variable Logics; title: Zero-one Laws; title: Embedded Finite Models; title: Other Applications of Finite Model Theory; title: References; title: List of Notations; title: Index; title: Name Index.