Principia Mathematica - Notation Used in PM

Notation Used in PM

One author observes that "The notation in that work has been superseded by the subsequent development of logic during the 20th century, to the extent that the beginner has trouble reading PM at all"; while much of the symbolic content can be converted to modern notation, the original notation itself is "a subject of scholarly dispute", and some notation "embod substantive logical doctrines so that it cannot simply be replaced by contemporary symbolism".

Kurt Gödel was harshly critical of the notation:

"It is to be regretted that this first comprehensive and thorough-going presentation of a mathematical logic and the derivation of mathematics from it so greatly lacking in formal precision in the foundations (contained in ✸1–✸21 of Principia ) that it represents in this respect a considerable step backwards as compared with Frege. What is missing, above all, is a precise statement of the syntax of the formalism. Syntactical considerations are omitted even in cases where they are necessary for the cogency of the proofs".

This is reflected in the example below of the symbols "p", "q", "r" and "⊃" that can be formed into the string "p ⊃ q ⊃ r". PM requires a definition of what this symbol-string means in terms of other symbols; in contemporary treatments the "formation rules" (syntactical rules leading to "well formed formulas") would have prevented the formation of this string.

Source of the notation: Chapter I "Preliminary Explanations of Ideas and Notations" begins with the source of the notation:

"The notation adopted in the present work is based upon that of Peano, and the following explanations are to some extent modelled on those which he prefixes to his Formulario Mathematico . His use of dots as brackets is adopted, and so are many of his symbols" (PM 1927:4).

PM adopts the assertion sign "⊦" from Frege's 1879 Begriffsschrift:

"(I)t may be read 'it is true that'"

Thus to assert a proposition p PM writes:

"⊦. p." (PM 1927:92)

(Observe that, as in the original, the left dot is square and of greater size than the period on the right.)