Axiomatic theory of betweenness

DOI10.1007/S00153-020-00744-5MaRDI QIDQ2219098zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Publication date 19 January 2021

Published in Archive for Mathematical Logic (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1902.00847

axiomatization betweenness completeness theorem

Classical first-order logic (03B10) Foundations of classical theories (including reverse mathematics) (03B30) Topological nonlinear incidence structures (51H15)

Abstract: Betweenness as a relation between three individual points has been widely studied in geometry and axiomatized by several authors in different contexts. The article proposes a more general notion of betweenness as a relation between three sets of points. The main technical result is a sound and complete logical system describing universal properties of this relation between sets of vertices of a graph.

Review text

This paper looks at set-betweenness from an axiomatic perspective. As one of several motivating examples presented by the authors, we have the notion of a subset $C$ of a metric space $\langle X,d\rangle$ being \textit{strictly between} two subsets $A$ and $B$-in symbols, $A|C|B$-if for each $a\in A$ and $b\in B$, there is a $c\in C\setminus\{a,b\}$ with $d(a,c)+d(c,b)=d(a,b)$. (This is a direct generalization of the notion of metric point-betweenness introduced by K.~Menger in the 1920s.) The principal focus of the paper is set-betweenness for simple graphs (with a possible loop at a vertex). Here $A|C|B$ holds if for each $a\in A$ and $b\in B$, and each edge path joining $a$ and $b$, there is an internal vertex of the path that belongs to $C$. The authors deliniate a quantifier-free first order language involving the ternary predicate $\cdot |\cdot |\cdot$ and constant symbols, a finite set of axioms in that language, and a straightforward semantics involving finite graphs. They than prove a soundness/completeness result for this system.

Recommendations

Cites work

Cited in

(20)

This page was built for publication: Axiomatic theory of betweenness

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q2219098)