undergraduate logic textbook - MathOverflow

undergraduate logic textbook

2010-11-02T22:00:40Z

I am going to teach the standard undergraduate Logic course for math and engineering majors. What are good (bad) text-books and why. I have not taught that course for a while and wonder if there are new good books. Also those who took/taught such a course recently, please let me know your opinion about the text you used. I do not need Computer Science applications (I can include them myself, if needed). Just a standard first course in Mathematical Logic.

Answer by Joe Johnson for undergraduate logic textbook

2010-11-02T22:10:24Z

I really like "Introduction to Mathematical Logic" by Mendelson. It covers the topics with appropriate rigor and thoroughness. It covers up through (in)completeness and has two extra chapters on set theory and computability. Plenty of exercises (with partial solutions) too.

Answer by Carl Mummert for undergraduate logic textbook

2010-11-02T22:58:54Z

I have taught an undergrad course out of Enderton's "A Mathematical Introduction to Logic". I thought it was very accessible and was relatively modern in its viewpoint. I chose it somewhat by default, and at first I wasn't sure about it, but it grew on me during the semester. It's certainly worth looking into.

Answer by Rod Carvalho for undergraduate logic textbook

2010-11-07T20:09:35Z

You may want to consider the following ebooks to complement the required literature:

Answer by PA for undergraduate logic textbook

2011-06-14T20:07:38Z

Kaye, R., 'Mathematics of Logic' is a good first-year text. Also consider Boolos 'Computability and Logic', but this could get in the way if you have a particular way of teaching CS/computability topics.

I prefer these to the Mendelson - which I found a bit confusing for the sake of formal accuracy. Kaye, by example, avoids too much technical jargon, and keeps to the ideas in play, building to a completeness theorem.

Hope this helps!

Answer by horsh for undergraduate logic textbook

2011-06-14T20:41:09Z

Although it is only tangential to math logics books, have you seen Pierce's "Software Foundations"? This is not what, but more about how. And here is a talk on how it worked out.

Answer by Andrew L for undergraduate logic textbook

2011-06-15T05:10:55Z

The best undergraduate textbook I've ever seen on mathematical logic is Wolfe's A Tour Through Mathematical Logic. I couldn't put it down,it was THAT fascinating. It covers virtually a complete overview of mathematical logic with many historical notes and sidebars illustrating the field in the context of a grand story with a cast of thousands and touches on virtualy all aspects of the field, from classical logic to axiomatic set theory to computability to forcing and large cardinals.What it lacks in depth,it more then makes up for in both breadth and a fascinating selection of topics and insights.

Imagine that: a READABLE text on mathematical logic.And best of all,unlike most standard logic books,the reader's not left wondering,"Yeah,ok-but why is all that important?"

Wolfe works really hard to not only show why HE thinks it's important-but why the founders of the subject thought it was in thier own words.

I would VERY STRONGLY suggest checking out that book,Mark.

Answer by PA for undergraduate logic textbook

2011-06-15T07:49:18Z

[Apologies, but I can't vote nor comment]

@Andrew & @Mark - Just read the 3rd and 4th chapters (that is, the ones that overlap with my current research) and yes, the book by Wolf is excellent! (Preview is on Google Books) I can secondarily recommend it! The start of each chapter is verbose, and scant in technical detail, but it fleshes out the ideas very nicely and succinctly. Also, it reads like most lecturers talk - then you turn around and see just how much ground and technical detail HAS been covered, and I have to say, I was very impressed. If you don't choose it as a textbook, then most certainly secondary/pre-course reading! There are a few typos (one in a definition... :-S ), but the survey of the subjects, without getting bogged down in detail that those starting out don't appreciate nor necessarily need, is excellent.

Answer by Ketil Tveiten for undergraduate logic textbook

2011-06-15T08:52:11Z

I would recommend A Friendly Introduction to Mathematical Logic by Christopher Leary. It covers all the important things up to the Incompleteness Theorem, and really is Friendly.

(I have heard rumours that it's out of print, though.)

Answer by Andrew Ostergaard for undergraduate logic textbook

2011-12-26T02:01:12Z

The best introduction to logic that I have seen is Kenneth Kunen's recent book, "The Foundations of Mathematics" (ISBN: 978-1-904987-14-7), published in 2009. The book provides a brief introduction to axiomatic set theory, model theory, and computability theory; and it culminates with a proof of Godel's incompleteness theorems and Tarski's theorem on the non-definability of truth. There are also a couple brief discussions of the philosophy of mathematics; these are given from the perspective of the working mathematician, and they are used to motivate the material. And they are very helpful. In fact, the most salient thing about this book is that it is exceptionally clear, well-written, and easy to learn from. (Kunen also wrote "Set Theory: An Introduction To Independence Proofs" which is also exceptionally clear, well-written, and easy to learn from). The book's only prerequisite is the mathematical maturity that an Introduction to Analysis course would provide, and it is available (new) on amazon.com for less than $25.

Answer by Xingdong Zuo for undergraduate logic textbook

2012-09-16T09:16:15Z

Manin, A Course in Mathematical Logic for Mathematicians, Springer

Answer by Julien Puydt for undergraduate logic textbook

2012-09-16T15:11:01Z

I'm fond of Cori and Lascar's "Mathematical logic" -- it comes in two volumes ; the first covers propositional calculus, boolean algebras, predicate calculus and completeness theorems, while the second dives into recursion theory, Gödel's theorems, set theory and model theory. It's well explained, with detailed proofs and nice exercises.

Answer by Noah S for undergraduate logic textbook

2012-09-16T23:12:45Z

Boolos, Burges, and Jeffreys' book "Computability and Logic" (I think it's now in its fifth edition?) is by far the best logic book I've ever run into. The first chunk of the book is focused specifically on computability theory, but one can skip right to the presentation of first-order logic, which is absolutely fantastic. The book covers a number of topics which don't tend to appear in basic logic books - modal logic, second-order logic, forcing in arithmetic - but is still a first introduction to the subject. It's wonderfully written, too.

I also quite like Ebbinghaus, Flum, and Thomas' book "Mathematical Logic," but not as much.