| Revision as of 18:32, 9 April 2007 editLaymanal (talk | contribs)4 editsm →Trivia: A change in the name of the game involved is made, and some detailed eloboration of the pun intended is added.← Previous edit | Revision as of 18:41, 9 April 2007 edit undoCharles Matthews (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Administrators360,248 edits →Trivia: cutting interesting signed contribution, presumably from Layman Allen; some changes incorporatedNext edit → | ||
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| ==Trivia== | ==Trivia== | ||
| ''WFF'' is the basis for an esoteric pun used in the name of a product: "WFF 'n |
''WFF'' is the basis for an esoteric pun used in the name of a game product: "WFF 'n PROOF: The Game of Modern Logic," by Layman Allen<ref></ref>, developed while he was at ] (he was later a professor at the ]). The suite of games is designed to teach the principles of symbolic logic to children (in ])<ref>More technically, ] using the subordinate-proof techniques of ].</ref>. Its name is an accepted pun on '']'', a nonsense word used as a ] at ] made popular in ''The Whiffenpoof Song''. | ||
| ==Notes== | |||
| The above Trivia is fairly accurate, but only fairly so. But even trivia deserves a respectable correspondence to reality, even if involves only trivia about trivia. First, the trade-marked name of the game is "WFF 'N PROOF", all upper-case. Second, "WFF" alone was never meant as the pun, whatever myths may have evolved to the contrary. Besides being the standard abbreviation in logic for "well-formed formula", "WFF" was the name adopted for a series of games dealing with the concept of "WFFhood" (or should that be "WFFship", or even "WFFness") that were created during the period when WFF 'N PROOF was evolving. There was an accompanying series of games created about the same time called the "PROOF" games that dealt with the concept of proof. I remember well what I believe to be the first utterance ever on planet earth of the term "WFF 'N PROOF". It occurred on a warm, sun-shiny afternoon in the Spring of 1960 on the back-yard lawn of a graduate law student named Charles Padden when the two of us were at Yale Law School. Charles had just popped a can of cold beer for my benefit, and handed it to me with the question, "So, how are the games coming along?" My response was, "Well, the WFF and PROOF games ... Oh, shit! we've given them the wrong names. They should be called "WFF 'N PROOF". That was the birth of the name of the first series of 24 games that dealt with 13 ideas: the concepts of WFF, PROOF, and 11 rule-of-inference schemas that formulate the basis of standard two-valued propositional logic in Jan Lukascieicz notation using the powerful subordinate-proof techniques of Frederic B. Fitch. So, clearly, it was the full name "WFF 'N PROOF" that was the intended pun with respect to the famous Yale singing group, the Whiffenpoofs. However, it did lead to some confusion during the period when we both had mail-boxes at the Yale Station postal facility. We somewhat frequently received each other's mail. I, who am tone deaf, remember well one delightful invitation to sing in Denver. -- Layman Allen18:32, 9 April 2007 (UTC)18:32, 9 April 2007 (UTC)18:32, 9 April 2007 (UTC)18:32, 9 April 2007 (UTC)18:32, 9 April 2007 (UTC)18:32, 9 April 2007 (UTC)~~ | |||
| <references/> | |||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
Revision as of 18:41, 9 April 2007
For the New Zealand government policy, see Working for Families.In logic, WFF (pronounced "wiff") is an abbreviation for well-formed formula. Given a formal grammar, a WFF is any string that is generated by that grammar.
For example, in propositional logic the sequence of symbols is a WFF because it is grammatically correct. The sequence of symbols is not a WFF, because it does not conform to the grammar of propositional calculus.
is a WFF because it is grammatically correct. The sequence of symbols 
is not a WFF, because it does not conform to the grammar of propositional calculus.
In formal logic, proofs are sequences of WFFs with certain properties, and the final WFF in the sequence is what is proven.
Trivia
WFF is the basis for an esoteric pun used in the name of a game product: "WFF 'n PROOF: The Game of Modern Logic," by Layman Allen, developed while he was at Yale Law School (he was later a professor at the University of Michigan). The suite of games is designed to teach the principles of symbolic logic to children (in Polish notation). Its name is an accepted pun on whiffenpoof, a nonsense word used as a cheer at Yale University made popular in The Whiffenpoof Song.
Notes
- More technically, propositional logic using the subordinate-proof techniques of Frederic B. Fitch.
See also
External links
- Well-Formed Formula for First Order Predicate Logic - includes a short Java quiz.
- Well-Formed Formula at ProvenMath