Proof Theory 2014/2015

This is the website for the course ``Proof Theory'' which will be offered at the University of Amsterdam in Fall 2014.

News

• There was a typo in part (d) of the second homework sheet: it should have said "Deduce from (a) and (c)" instead of "Deduce from (a) and (b)".

Exercise sheets and information about the contents of the lectures can be found here.
Homework sheets and information about grading can be found here.

Teaching staff

• Lecturer: Benno van den Berg
  Email: bennovdberg@gmail.com
  Room: ILLC, Science Park F2.43
• Teaching assistant: Paula Henk
  Email: paulahenk@gmail.com
  Room: ILLC, Science Park F2.23

Practical details

Lectures and exercises classes will take place from week 44 till week 50. The first meeting will be the lecture on 29 October. Week 51 is exam week and the exam will take place on December 18, 9:00-12:00 in SP C1.110.

There will be two lectures per week and these will take place on Wednesdays 11:00-13:00 and Fridays 15:00-17:00. In addition, there will be a lecture on Tuesday 4 November, 17:00-19:00.

In addition, there will be two exercises classes per week, one on Tuesday 17:00-19:00 (from 11 November onwards) and one on Thursday 9:00-11:00 (from 30 October onwards). These exercise classes are an integral part of the course. On Thursdays one works on an exercise sheet under the guidance of the teaching assistant (these sheets will appear here). In addition, there will be six homework sheets which influence your final grade for the course (more information about the homework can be found here). Starting from Tuesday 11 Nov the exercise classes on Tuesday will be devoted to handing back and discussing the homework.

The weekly schedule is as follows:

• Tuesday 17:00-19:00: On 4 November, lecture in SP G3.10. From 11 November onwards: Exercise class in SP G3.10.
• Wednesday 11:00-13:00: Lecture in SP G3.10.
• Thursday 9:00-11:00: Exercise class. On 30 Oct, 6 Nov and 13 Nov in SP A.10, on 20 Nov in SP D1.116, on 27 Nov in SP B0.201, on 4 Dec in SP D1.111 and on 11 Dec in SP G3.02.
• Friday 15:00-17:00: Lecture. On 31 Oct in SP D1.114, on 7 Nov in SP A1.10, on 14 Nov in SP G4.15, on Nov 21 in SP D1.115, on Nov 28 in SP C1.112, on Dec 5 in SP F1.02 and Dec 12 in D1.113.

Study materials

• Handouts.
• S.R. Buss, An Introduction to Proof Theory. Chapter 1 from Handbook of Proof Theory, edited by S.R. Buss. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1998. Available here.

Other sources:

• A.S. Troelstra and H. Schwichtenberg. Basic Proof Theory. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000.
• J.-Y. Girard. Proofs and Types. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1989. Translated and with appendices by Paul Taylor and Yves Lafont. Available here.

References on signed formulae, Hintikka sets and consistency properties:

• M.C. Fitting, Proof methods for modal and intuitionistic logics. Synthese Library, 169. D. Reidel Publishing Co., Dordrecht-Boston, Mass., 1983.
• R.M. Smullyan, First-order logic. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1968. Cheap reprint published by Dover.

Prerequisites

Some background knowledge in logic and mathematical maturity is required, but nothing beyond what could reasonably be expected from a student of mathematics or logic at MSc level (for example, at the level of the ILLC's Basic Logic course).

To teaching page.