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logicterminologyclauseconjunctive-normal-form

Name of unsigned literals in clause normal form

The elements of a logical statement in clause normal form, are called literals.

For example, given the clause {a, !b}

The literals are a , !b.

But suppose you want to obtain the set of elements regardless of whether they are negated.

The 'unsigned literals'(?) are a , b.

What would be a better/more standard term than 'unsigned literals'? One could say 'variables' I suppose, but that seems incongruous in a context where they could be constants, or complex terms in their own right.

Solution

  • The best available answer seems to be 'atoms' as in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_formula - though the objects in question could be complex terms, they are atoms from the perspective of propositional logic.