2.2.6: Expressing the Size of Structures
There are some properties of structures we can express even without using the non-logical symbols of a language. For instance, there are sentences which are true in a structure iff the domain of the structure has at least, at most, or exactly a certain number \(n\) of elements.
The sentence \[\begin{gathered} A_{\ge n} \ident \lexists{x_1}{\lexists{x_2}{\dots\lexists{x_n}{}}}\hspace{288px}\\ \hspace{108px}\begin{aligned} (\eqN[x_1][x_2] \land {} \eqN[x_1][x_3] \land \eqN[x_1][x_4] \land \dots \land \eqN[x_1][x_n] \land {}\\ \eqN[x_2][x_3] \land \eqN[x_2][x_4] \land \dots \land {} \eqN[x_2][x_n] \land {} \\ \vdots\\ \eqN[x_{n-1}][x_n]) \end{aligned}\end{gathered}\] is true in a structure \(\Struct M\) iff \(\Domain M\) contains at least \(n\) elements. Consequently, \(\Sat{M}{\lnot A_{\ge n+1}}\) iff \(\Domain M\) contains at most \(n\) elements.
The sentence \[\begin{gathered} A_{= n} \ident \lexists{x_1}{\lexists{x_2}{\dots\lexists{x_n}{}}}\hspace{288px} \\ \hspace{108px}\begin{aligned} (\eqN[x_1][x_2] \land {} \eqN[x_1][x_3] \land \eqN[x_1][x_4] \land \dots \land \eqN[x_1][x_n] \land {}\\ \eqN[x_2][x_3] \land \eqN[x_2][x_4] \land \dots \land {} \eqN[x_2][x_n] \land {} \\ \vdots\\ \eqN[x_{n-1}][x_n] \land {} \\ \lforall{y}{(\eq[y][x_1] \lor \dots \lor \eq[y][x_n]})) \end{aligned}\end{gathered}\] is true in a structure \(\Struct M\) iff \(\Domain M\) contains exactly \(n\) elements.
A structure is infinite iff it is a model of \[\{A_{\ge 1}, A_{\ge 2}, A_{\ge 3}, \dots \}.\nonumber\]
There is no single purely logical sentence which is true in \(\Struct M\) iff \(\Domain M\) is infinite. However, one can give sentences with non-logical predicate symbols which only have infinite models (although not every infinite structure is a model of them). The property of being a finite structure, and the property of being a non-enumerable structure cannot even be expressed with an infinite set of sentences. These facts follow from the compactness and Löwenheim-Skolem theorems.