symbolic logic

noun

: a science of developing and representing logical principles by means of a formalized system consisting of primitive symbols, combinations of these symbols, axioms, and rules of inference

Examples of symbolic logic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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What a good system of symbolic logic does is that let us get really organized. The Lost Women Of Science Initiative, Scientific American, 30 Nov. 2023 Christine was a mathematician who specialized in symbolic logic. The Lost Women Of Science Initiative, Scientific American, 30 Nov. 2023 These in turn are being aided by new work on neural nets as well as symbolic logic. John McCarthy, IEEE Spectrum, 6 May 2023 The team also showed that, for 3-by-3 grids, their system was almost 250 times faster than a traditional method that uses rules of symbolic logic to reason, since that method must search through an enormous rulebook to determine the correct next step. Anil Ananthaswamy, Quanta Magazine, 13 Apr. 2023 Will deep learning ever be able to learn symbolic logic? Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 2 Aug. 2022 On the other side of the debate are cognitive psychologists such as former NYU professor Gary Marcus and many others who see strong evidence that in people—and to some extent in animals too— symbolic logic is innate, not learned. Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 2 Aug. 2022 NooK incorporates symbolic logic and explicit probabilistic reasoning allows for clear explanations of the A.I.’s decisions. Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 5 Apr. 2022 To this end, the Vienna Circle drew on the symbolic logic developed by the English philosopher Bertrand Russell, which offered a way to reduce any sentence to a series of symbols and formulas. Adam Kirsch, The New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

1856, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of symbolic logic was in 1856

Dictionary Entries Near symbolic logic

Cite this Entry

“Symbolic logic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/symbolic%20logic. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.

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