From owner-cse191-sp08-list@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU  Fri Feb 15 13:38:21 2008
Date:         Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:38:01 -0500
From: "William J. Rapaport" <rapaport@cse.Buffalo.EDU>
Subject: 191:  Why "Speak" Logic?
To: CSE191-SP08-LIST@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 191:  Why "Speak" Logic?
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's a nice quote from one of the pioneers of computer science (and
many other disciplines, including mathematics and economics):  John von
Neumann:

========================================================================
"The first task that arises in dealing with any problem...is to
formulate it unambiguously, to put it into words, in a rigorous sense."
========================================================================

from:
Von Neumann, John (1951), "The General and Logical Theory of Automata",
in L.A. Jeffress (ed.), Cerebral Mechanisms in Behavior (Hixon
Symposium; Hafner Publishing): 1-41; reprinted in Ronald Chrisley (ed.),
Artificial Intelligence:  Critical Concepts, Vol. I (London:
Routledge): 416-453, quote on p. 446.
http://www.dna.caltech.edu/courses/cs191/paperscs191/vonneumann1951.pdf
(quote on p. 320 of the PDF version)

The language of logic, just like a programming language, is a rigorous,
unambiguous language designed for just that purpose.