The term has a number of uses, including:
- relating to Form , i.e. appearance rather than essence.
- ---relating to Formalism , i.e. emphasis on form over content or meaning.
- Formal Logic logical argument based only on the form and not on the meaning.
- Formal Cause , Aristotle's intrinsic, determining cause.
- Formal Power Series , a generalization of power series without requiring convergence, used in combinatorics;
- Formal Calculation , a calculation which is systematic, but without a rigorous justification;
- Formal Set Theory as opposed to naive set theory;
- Formal Derivative , an operation on elements of a polynomial ring which mimics the form of the derivative from calculus.
- Formal System , an abstract means of generating inferences in a formal language;
- --- Formal Language , comprising the symbolic "words" or "sentences" of a formal system;
-- Formal Grammar , a grammar describing a formal language;
- --- Formal Proof , a fully rigorous proof as is possible only in a formal system.
See also the Language section of Mathematics, above
See also the Language section of Mathematics, above
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