Krom formulas with one dyadic predicate letter1

E-ISSN： 1943-5886|41|2|341-362

ISSN： 0022-4812

Source： The Journal of Symbolic Logic, Vol.41, Iss.2, 1976-06, pp. : 341-362

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Abstract

Let Kr be the class of all those quantificational formulas whose matrices are conjunctions of binary disjunctions of signed atomic formulas. Decision problems for subclasses of Kr do not invariably coincide with those for the corresponding classes of quantificational formulas with unrestricted matrices; for example, the ∀∃∀ prefix subclass of Kr is solvable, but the full ∀∃∀ class is not ([AaLe],- [KMW]). Moreover, the straightforward encodings of automata which have been used to show the unsolvability of various subclasses of Kr ([Aa], [Bö], [AaLe]) yield but little information about signature subclasses, i.e. subclasses determined by the number and degrees of the predicate letters occurring in a formula. By a new and highly complex construction Theorem 1 establishes the best possible result on classification by signature.