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Concept
Finite model theory
Summary
Finite model theory is a subarea of model theory. Model theory is the branch of logic which deals with the relation between a formal language (syntax) and its interpretations (semantics). Finite model theory is a restriction of model theory to interpretations on finite structures, which have a finite universe.
Since many central theorems of model theory do not hold when restricted to finite structures, finite model theory is quite different from model theory in its methods of proof. Central results of classical model theory that fail for finite structures under finite model theory include the compactness theorem, Gödel's completeness theorem, and the method of ultraproducts for first-order logic (FO).
While model theory has many applications to mathematical algebra, finite model theory became an "unusually effective" instrument in computer science. In other words: "In the history of mathematical logic most interest has concentrated on infinite structures. [...] Yet, the objects computers have and hold are always finite. To study computation we need a theory of finite structures." Thus the main application areas of finite model theory are: descriptive complexity theory, database theory and formal language theory.
A common motivating question in finite model theory is whether a given class of structures can be described in a given language. For instance, one might ask whether the class of cyclic graphs can be distinguished among graphs by a FO sentence, which can also be phrased as asking whether cyclicity is FO-expressible.
A single finite structure can always be axiomatized in first-order logic, where axiomatized in a language L means described uniquely up to isomorphism by a single L-sentence. Similarly, any finite collection of finite structures can always be axiomatized in first-order logic. Some, but not all, infinite collections of finite structures can also be axiomatized by a single first-order sentence.
Official source
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