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Ehrenfeucht-Fraïssé Games

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Elements of Finite Model Theory

Part of the book series: Texts in Theoretical Computer Science ((TTCS))

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Abstract

We start this chapter by giving a few examples of inexpressibility proofs, using the standard model-theoretic machinery (compactness, the Löwenheim-Skolern theorem). We then show that this machinery is not generally applicable in the finite model theory context, and introduce the notion of Ehrenfeucht-Fraïssé games for first-order logic. We prove the EhrenfeuchtFraïssé theorem, characterizing the expressive power of FO via games, and introduce the notion of types, which will be central throughout the book.

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© 2004 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Libkin, L. (2004). Ehrenfeucht-Fraïssé Games. In: Elements of Finite Model Theory. Texts in Theoretical Computer Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-07003-1_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-07003-1_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-05948-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-07003-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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