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University of Melbourne

Logic: Language and Information 1

University of Melbourne via Coursera

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Overview

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Information is everywhere: in our words and our world, our thoughts and our theories, our devices and our databases. Logic is the study of that information: the features it has, how it’s represented, and how we can manipulate it. Learning logic helps you formulate and answer many different questions about information:

  • Does this hypothesis clash with the evidence we have or is it consistent with the evidence?
  • Is this argument watertight, or do we need to add more to make the conclusion to really follow from the premises?
  • Do these two sentences say the same things in different ways, or do they say something subtly different?
  • Does this information follow from what’s in this database, and what procedure could we use to get the answer quickly?
  • Is there a more cost-effective design for this digital circuit? And how can we specify what the circuit is meant to do so we could check that this design does what we want?
These are questions about Logic. When you learn logic you'll learn to recognise patterns of information and the way it can be represented. These skills are used whether we're dealing with theories, databases, digital circuits, meaning in language, or mathematical reasoning, and they will be used in the future in ways we haven't yet imagined. Learning logic is a central part of learning to think well, and this course will help you learn logic and how you can apply it.

If you take this subject, you will learn how to use the core tools in logic: the idea of a formal language, which gives us a way to talk about logical structure; and we'll introduce and explain the central logical concepts such as consistency and validity; models; and proofs. But you won’t only learn concepts and tools. We will also explore how these techniques connect with issues in linguistics, computer science, electronic engineering, and philosophy.

Syllabus

Week 1The Syntax of Propositional Logic; Truth Tables; Classifying Propositions

Week 2. Relationships between Propositions; Tree Proofs; Soundness and Completeness

Weeks 3–5. Applications to different reasoning domains (take at least two):
  • Electronic Engineering — simplifying digital circuits
  • Philosophy — vagueness and borderline cases
  • Computer Science — databases, resolution and propositional Prolog
  • Linguistics — meaning: implication vs implicature

Taught by

Greg Restall and Jen Davoren

Reviews

4.4 rating, based on 8 Class Central reviews

Start your review of Logic: Language and Information 1

  • Alun Ap Rhisiart
  • Bart
    Having quite a lot of software development experience, I'm quite used to using logic. The material is well presented and fairly easy for my taste. The course notes act like an accompanying textbook and are well written with a few (not too many) exer…
  • consequently
    Anonymous from Singapore's comment about peer grading is incorrect, and it seems to based on a misunderstanding.

    Yes, there is peer grading for some of the assessment of the subject, but it's only for a small component—the 20% final exam, and two optional 10% components. Most of the students who passed the subject did little or none of the peer assignments. (And those who did them found them helpful.)
  • Robert Grutza
    The instructors were superb. The materials and methods of quizzing reinforced the excellent instruction given in a fun manner. As a veteran of many MOOCs, I would consider this one to be in an elite class for how well it was put together.
  • Anastasia Blita
  • Anonymous
    I was surprised to learn that most of the assignments are essays that are to be graded by peers. I have had bad experiences before with peer-grading (both giving and receiving) so I dropped the class as soon as I realized that. I can't really comment on the quality of the courseware.
  • Met Bay

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