Inference in

First Order Logic

Chapter 9
Some material adopted from notes
by Tim Finin,
Andreas Geyer-Schulz,
and Chuck Dyer
1
 Inference Rules for FOL
• Inference rules for PL apply to FOL as well (Modus
Ponens, And-Introduction, And-Elimination, etc.)
• New (sound) inference rules for use with quantifiers:
– Universal Elimination
– Existential Introduction
– Existential Elimination
– Generalized Modus Ponens (GMP)
• Resolution
– Clause form (CNF in FOL)
– Unification (consistent variable substitution)
– Refutation resolution (proof by contradiction)

2
Universal Elimination (x) P(x) |-- P(c).
• If (x) P(x) is true, then P(c) is true for any constant c in the
domain of x, i.e.,, (x) P(x) |= P(c).
• Replace all occurrences of x in the scope of x by the same ground
term (a constant or a ground function).
• Example: (x) eats(Ziggy, x) |-- eats(Ziggy, IceCream)
Existential Introduction P(c) |-- (x) P(x)
• If P(c) is true, so is (x) P(x), i.e., P(c) |= (x) P(x)
• Replace all instances of the given constant symbol by the same new
variable symbol.
• Example eats(Ziggy, IceCream) |-- (x) eats(Ziggy, x)
Existential Elimination
• From (x) P(x) infer P(c), i.e., (x) P(x) |= P(c), where c is a new
constant symbol,
– All we know is there must be some constant that makes this true, so
we can introduce a brand new one to stand in for that constant, even
though we don’t know exactly what that constant refer to.
– Example: (x) eats(Ziggy, x) |= eats(Ziggy, Stuff)
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• Things become more complicated when there are universal quantifiers
(x)(y) eats(x, y) |= (x)eats(x, Stuff) ???
(x)(y) eats(x, y) |= eats(Ziggy, Stuff) ???
– Introduce a new function food_sk(x) to stand for y because that y
depends on x
(x)(y) eats(x, y) |-- (x)eats(x, food_sk(x))
(x)(y) eats(x, y) |-- eats(Ziggy, food_sk(Ziggy))
– What exactly the function food_sk(.) does is unknown, except that it
takes x as its argument
• The process of existential elimination is called “Skolemization”, and the
new, unique constants (e.g., Stuff) and functions (e.g., food_sk(.)) are
called skolem constants and skolem functions

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Generalized Modus Ponens (GMP)
• Combines And-Introduction, Universal-Elimination, and Modus
Ponens
• Ex: P(c), Q(c), (x)(P(x) ^ Q(x)) => R(x) |-- R(c)
P(c), Q(c) |-- P(c) ^ Q(c) (by and-introduction)
(x)(P(x) ^ Q(x)) => R(x)
|-- (P(c) ^ Q(c)) => R(c) (by universal-elimination)
P(c) ^ Q(c), (P(c) ^ Q(c)) => R(c) |-- R(c) (by modus ponens)
• All occurrences of a quantified variable must be instantiated to the
same constant.
P(a), Q(c), (x)(P(x) ^ Q(x)) => R(x) |-- R(c)
because all occurrences of x must either instantiated to a or c which
makes the modus ponens rule not applicable.

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 Resolution for FOL
• Resolution rule operates on two clauses
– A clause is a disjunction of literals (without explicit quantifiers)
– Relationship between clauses in KB is conjunction
• Resolution Rule for FOL:
– clause C1: (l_1, l_2, ... l_i, ... l_n) and
clause C2: (l’_1, l’_2, ... l’_j, ... l’_m)
– if l_i and l’_j are two opposite literals (e.g., P and ~P) and their
argument lists can be be made the same (unified) by a set of variable
bindings {x1/y1, ... Xk/yk} where x1, ... Xk are variables and
y1, ... Yk are terms, then derive a new clause (called resolvent)
subst((l_1, l_2, ... l_n, l’_1, l’_2, ... l’_m), 
where function subst(expression, returns a new expression by
applying all variable bindings in  to the original expression

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 We need answers to the following questions

• How to convert FOL sentences to clause form (especially how

to remove quantifiers)
• How to unify two argument lists, i.e., how to find their most
general unifier (mgu) 
• How to determine which two clauses in KB should be resolved
next (among all resolvable pairs of clauses) and how to
determine a proof is completed

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 Converting FOL sentences to clause form
• Clauses are quantifier free CNF of FOL sentences
• Basic ideas
– How to handle quantifiers
• Careful on quantifiers with preceding negations (explicit or
implicit)
~x P(x) is really x ~P(x)
(x P(x)) => (y Q(y))  ~(x P(x)) v (y Q(y))
 x ~P(x) v y Q(y)
• Eliminate true existential quantifier by Skolemization
• For true universally quantified variables, treat them as such
without quantifiers
– How to convert to CNF (similar to PL but need to work with
quantifiers)

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 Conversion procedure
step 1: remove all “=>” and “<=>” operators
(using P => Q  ~P v Q and P <=> Q P => Q ^ Q => P )
step 2: move all negation signs to individual predicates
(using de Morgan’s law)
step 3: remove all existential quantifiers y
case 1: y is not in the scope of any universally quantified variable,
then replace all occurrences of y by a skolem constant
case 2: if y is in scope of universally quantified variables x1, ... xi,
then replace all occurrences of y by a skolem function
step 4: remove all universal quantifiers x (with the understanding that
all remaining variables are universally quantified)
step 5: convert the sentence into CNF (using distribution law, etc)
step 6: use parenthesis to separate all disjunctions, then drop all v’s and
^’s

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 Conversion examples
x (P(x) ^ Q(x) => R(x)) y rose(y) ^ yellow(y)
x ~(P(x) ^ Q(x)) v R(x) (by step 1) rose(c) ^ yellow(c)
x ~P(x) v ~Q(x) v R(x) (by step 2) (where c is a skolem constant)
~P(x) v ~Q(x) v R(x) (by step 4) (rose(c)), (yellow(c))
(~P(x), ~Q(x), R(x)) (by step 6)

x [person(x) => y (person(y) ^ father(y, x))]

x [~person(x) v y (person(y) ^ father(y, x))] (by step 1)
x [~person(x) v (person(f_sk(x)) ^ father(f_sk(x), x))] (by step 3)
~person(x) v (person(f_sk(x)) ^ father(f_sk(x), x)) (by step 4)
(~person(x) v person(f_sk(x)) ^ (~person(x) v father(f_sk(x), x)) (by step 5)
(~person(x), person(f_sk(x)), (~person(x), father(f_sk(x), x)) (by step 6)
(where f_sk(.) is a skolem function)

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 Unification of two clauses
• Basic idea: x P(x) => Q(x), P(a) |-- Q(a)
(~P(x), Q(x)), (P(a))

{x/a} a substitution in which variable x is bound to

a
Q(a)
– The goal is to find a set of variable bindings so that the
argument lists of two opposite literals (in two clauses) can be
made the same.
– Only variables can be bound to other things.
• a and b cannot be unified (different constants in general refer to
different objects)
• a and f(x) cannot be unified (unless the inverse function of f is
known, which is not the case for general functions in FOL)
• f(x) and g(y) cannot be unified (function symbols f and g in
general refer to different functions and their exact definitions are
different in different interpretations)

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– Cannot bind variable x to y if x appears anywhere in y
• Try to unify x and f(x). If we bind x to f(x) and apply the binding
to both x and f(x), we get f(x) and f(f(x)) which are still not the
same (and will never be made the same no matter how many times
the binding is applied)
– Otherwise, bind variable x to y, written as x/y (this
guarantees to find the most general unifier, or mgu)
• Suppose both x and y are variables, then they can be made the
same by binding both of them to any constant c or any function
f(.). Such bindings are less general and impose unnecessary
restriction on x and y.
– To unify two terms of the same function symbol, unify
their argument lists (unification is recursive)
Ex: to unify f(x) and f(g(b)), we need to unify x and g(b)

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– When the argument lists contain multiple terms, unify each
pair of terms
Ex. To unify (x, f(x), ...) (a, y, ...)
1. unify x and a (x/a})
2. apply  to the remaining terms in both lists, resulting
(f(a), ...) and (y, ...)
1. unify f(a) and y with binding y/f(a)
2. apply the new binding y/f(a) to 
3. add y/f(a) to new 

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 Unification Examples
• parents(x, father(x), mother(Bill)) and parents(Bill, father(Bill), y)
– unify x and Bill:  = {x/Bill}
– unify father(Bill) and father(Bill):  = {x/Bill}
– unify mother(Bill) and y:  = {x/Bill}, /mother(Bill)}
• parents(x, father(x), mother(Bill)) and parents(Bill, father(y), z)
– unify x and Bill:  = {x/Bill}
– unify father(Bill) and father(y):  = {x/Bill, y/Bill}
– unify mother(Bill) and z:  = {x/Bill, y/Bill, z/mother(Bill)}
• parents(x, father(x), mother(Jane)) and parents(Bill, father(y), mother(y))
– unify x and Bill:  = {x/Bill}
– unify father(Bill) and father(y):  = {x/Bill, y/Bill}
– unify mother(Jane) and mother(Bill): Failure because Jane and Bill are
different constants

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 More Unification Examples
• P(x, g(x), h(b)) and P(f(u, a), v, u))
– unify x and f(u, a):  = {x/ f(u, a)};
remaining lists: (g(f(u, a)), h(b)) and (v, u)
– unify g(f(u, a)) and v:  = {x/f(u, a), v/g(f(u, a))};
remaining lists: (h(b)) and (u)
– unify h(b) and u:  = {x/f(h(b), a), v/g(f(h(b), a)), u/h(b)};
• P(f(x, a), g(x, b)) and P(y, g(y, b))
– unify f(x, a) and y:  = {y/f(x, a)}
remaining lists: (g(x, b)) and (g(f(x, a), b))
– unify x and f(x, a): failure because x is in f(x, a)

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 Unification Algorithm (pp. 302-303, Chapter 10)
procedure unify(p, q, ) /* p and q are two lists of terms and |p| = |q| */
if p = empty then return ; /* success */
let r = first(p) and s = first(q);
if r = s then return unify(rest(p), rest(q), );
if r is a variable then temp = unify-var(r, s);
else if s is a variable then temp = unify-var(s, r);
else if both r and s are functions of the same function name then
temp = unify(arglist(r), arglist(s), empty);
else return “failure”;
if temp = “failure” then return “failure”; /* p and q are not unifiable */
else  = subst(temp) temp; /* apply tmp to old then insert it into  */

return unify(subst(rest(p), tmp), subst(rest(q), tmp), );
end{unify}
procedure unify-var(x, y)
if x appears anywhere in y then return “failure”;
else return (x/y)
end{unify-var}

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 Resolution in FOL
• Convert all sentences in KB (axioms, definitions, and known facts)
and the goal sentence (the theorem to be proved) to clause form
• Two clauses C1 and C2 can be resolved if and only if r in C1 and s
in C2 are two opposite literals, and their argument list arglist_r and
arglist_s are unifiable with mgu = .
• Then derive the resolvent sentence: subst((C1 – {r}, C2 – {s}), )
(substitution is applied to all literals in C1 and C2, but not to any
other clauses)
• Example
(P(x, f(a)), P(x, f(y)), Q(y)) (~P(z, f(a)), ~Q(z))

 = {x/z}

(P(z, f(y)), Q(y), ~Q(z))

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 Resolution example
• Prove that
w P(w) => Q(w), y Q(y) => S(y), z R(z) => S(z), x P(x) v R(x) |= u S(u)
• Convert these sentences to clauses (u S(u) skolemized to S(a))
• Apply resolution
(~P(w), Q(w)) (~Q(y), S(y)) (~R(z), S(z)) (P(x), R(x))

(~P(y), S(y)) {w/y}

a resolution
proof tree
(S(x), R(x)) {y/x}

(S(a)) {x/a, z/a}

• Problems
– The theorem S(a) does not actively participate in the proof
– Hard to determine if a proof (with consistent variable bindings) is
completed if the theorem consists of more than one clause
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 Resolution Refutation: a better proof strategy
• Given a consistent set of axioms KB and goal sentence Q, show
that KB |= Q.
• Proof by contradiction: Add ~Q to KB and try to prove false.
because (KB |= Q) <=> (KB ^ ~Q |= False, or KB ^ ~Q is inconsistent)
• How to represent “false” in clause form
– P(x) ^ ~P(y) is inconsistent
– Convert them to clause form then apply resolution
(P(x)) (~P(y))
{x/y}
() a null clause
– A null clause represents false (inconsistence/contradiction)
– KB |= Q if we can derive a null clause from KB ^ ~Q by resolution

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• Prove by resolution refutation that
w P(w) => Q(w), y Q(y) => S(y), z R(z) => S(z), x P(x) v R(x) |= u
S(u)
• Convert these sentences to clauses (~ u S(u) becomes ~S(u))

(~P(w), Q(w)) (~Q(y), S(y)) (~R(z), S(z)) (P(x), R(x)) (~S(u))

(~R(z)) {u/z}

(~Q(y)) {u/y}

(~P(w)) {y/w} (P(x)) {z/x}

() {x/w}

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 Refutation Resolution Procedure
procedure resolution(KB, Q)
/* KB is a set of consistent, true FOL sentences, Q is a goal sentence.
It returns success if KB |-- Q, and failure otherwise */
KB = clause(union(KB, {~Q})) /* convert KB and ~Q to clause form */
while null clause is not in KB do
pick 2 sentences, S1 and S2, in KB that contain a pair of opposite
literals whose argument lists are unifiable
if none can be found then return "failure"
resolvent = resolution-rule(S1, S2)
KB = union(KB, {resolvent})
return "success "
end{resolution}

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 Control Strategies
• At any given time, there are multiple pairs of clauses that are
resolvable. Therefore, we need a systematic way to select one such pair
at each step of proof
– May lead to a null clause
– Without losing potentially good threads (of inference)
• There are a number of general (domain independent) strategies that are
useful in controlling a resolution theorem prover.
• We’ll briefly look at the following
– Breadth first
– Set of support
– Unit resolution
– Input Resolution
– Ordered resolution
– Subsumption

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Breadth first
• Level 0 clauses are those from the original KB and the negation of the
goal.
• Level k clauses are the resolvents computed from two clauses, one of
which must be from level k-1 and the other from any earlier level.
• Compute all level 1 clauses possible, then all possible level 2 clauses,
etc.
• Complete, but very inefficient.

Set of Support
• At least one parent clause must be from the negation of the goal or one
of the "descendents" of such a goal clause (i.e., derived from a goal
clause).
• Complete (assuming all possible set-of-support clauses are derived)
• Gives a goal directed character to the search

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Unit Resolution
• At least one parent clause must be a "unit clause," i.e., a
clause containing a single literal.
• Not complete in general, but complete for Horn clause KBs
Input Resolution
• At least one parent from the set of original clauses (from
the axioms and the negation of the goal)
• Not complete in general, but complete for Horn clause KBs
Linear Resolution
• Is an extension of Input Resolution
• use P and Q if P is in its initial KB (and query) or P is an
ancestor of Q.
• Complete.

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Ordered Resolution
• Do them in order (Left to right)
• This is how Prolog operates
• Do the first element in the sentence first.
• This forces the user to define what is important in generating the
"code."
• The way the sentences are written controls the resolution.

Subsumption
• Eliminate all clauses that are subsumed (more specific than) by an
existing clause to keep the KB small.
• Like factoring, this is just removing things that merely clutter up the
space and will not affect the final result.
• I.e. if P(x) is already in the KB, adding P(A) makes no sense -- P(x) is a
superset of P(A).
• Likewise adding P(A) v Q(B) would add nothing to the KB either.

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 Example of Automatic Theorem Proof:
Did Curiosity kill the cat
• Jack owns a dog. Every dog owner is an animal lover. No
animal lover kills an animal. Either Jack or Curiosity killed
the cat, who is named Tuna. Did Curiosity kill the cat?
• These can be represented as follows:
A. (x) Dog(x) ^ Owns(Jack,x)
B. (x) ((y) Dog(y) ^ Owns(x, y)) => AnimalLover(x)
C. (x) AnimalLover(x) => (y) Animal(y) => ~Kills(x,y)
D. Kills(Jack,Tuna) v Kills(Curiosity,Tuna)
E. Cat(Tuna)
F. (x) Cat(x) => Animal(x)
Q. Kills(Curiosity, Tuna)

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• Convert to clause form
A1. (Dog(D)) /* D is a skolem constant */
A2. (Owns(Jack,D))
B. (~Dog(y), ~Owns(x, y), AnimalLover(x))
C. (~AnimalLover(x), ~Animal(y), ~Kills(x,y))
D. (Kills(Jack,Tuna), Kills(Curiosity,Tuna))
E. Cat(Tuna)
F. (~Cat(x), Animal(x))
• Add the negation of query:
Q: (~Kills(Curiosity, Tuna))

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• The resolution refutation proof
R1: Q, D, {}, (Kills(Jack, Tuna))
R2: R1, C, {x/Jack, y/Tuna}, (~AnimalLover(Jack), ~Animal(Tuna))
R3: R2, B, {x/Jack}, (~Dog(y), ~Owns(Jack, y), ~Animal(Tuna))
R4: R3, A1, {y/D}, (~Owns(Jack, D), ~Animal(Tuna))
R5: R4, A2, {}, (~Animal(Tuna))
R6: R5, F, {x/Tuna}, (~Cat(Tuna))
R7: R6, E, {} ()

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 Horn Clauses
• A Horn clause is a clause with at most one positive literal:
(~P1(x), ~P2(x), ..., ~Pn(x) v Q(x)), equivalent to
x P1(x) ^ P2(x) ... ^ Pn(x) => Q(x) or
Q(x) <= P1(x), P2(x), ... , Pn(x) (in prolog format)
– if contains no negated literals (i.e., Q(a) <=): facts
– if contains no positive literals (<= P1(x), P2(x), ... , Pn(x)): query
– if contain no literal at all (<=): null clause
• Most knowledge can be represented by Horn clauses
• Easier to understand (keeps the implication form)
• Easier to process than FOL
• Horn clauses represent a subset of the set of sentences representable
in FOL (e.g., it cannot represent uncertain conclusions, e.g.,
Q(x) v R(x) <= P(x)).

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 Logic Programming
• Resolution with Horn clause is like a function all:
Q(x) <= P1(x), P2(x), ... , Pn(x)

Function Function
name body

Q(x) <= P1(x), P2(x), ... , Pn(x) <= Q(a)

 Unification is like
parameter passing
<= P1(a), P2(a), ... , Pn(a)
To solve Q(a), we solve P1(a), P2(a), ... , and Pn(a). This is called
problem reduction (P1(a), ... Pn(a) are subgoals).

We then continue to call functions to solve P1(a), ..., by resolving

<= P1(a), P2(a), ... , Pn(a) with clauses P(y) <= R1(y), ... Rm(y), etc.

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 Example of Logic Programming
Computing factorials
A1: fact(0, 1) <= /* base case: 0! = 1 */
A2: fact(x, x*y) <= fact(x-1, y) /* recursion: x! = x*(x-1)! */

<= fact(3, z) A2
{x/3, z/3*y}
<= fact(2, y) A2 (x and y renamed to x1 and y1)
{x1/2, y/2*y1}
<= fact(1, y1) A2 (x and y renamed to x2
and y2)
{x2/1, y1/1*y2}
<= fact(0, y2) A1
{y2/1}
()
Extract answer from the variable bindings:
z = 3*y = 3*2*y1 = 3*2*1*y2 = 3*2*1*1 = 6 31
 Prolog
• A logic programming language based on Horn clauses
– Resolution refutation
– Control strategy: goal directed and depth-first
• always start from the goal clause,
• always use the new resolvant as one of the parent clauses for resolution
• backtracking when the current thread fails
• complete for Horn clause KB
– Support answer extraction (can request single or all answers)
– Orders the clauses and literals with a clause to resolve non-determinism
• Q(a) may match both Q(x) <= P(x) and Q(y) <= R(y)
• A (sub)goal clause may contain more than one literals, i.e., <= P1(a), P2(a)
– Use “closed world” assumption (negation as failure)
• If it fails to derive P(a), then assume ~P(a)

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 Other issues
• FOL is semi-decidable
– We want to answer the question if KB |= S
– If actually KB |= S (or KB |= ~S), then a complete proof procedure will
terminate with a positive (or negative) answer within finite steps of
inference
– If neither S nor ~S logically follows KB, then there is no proof procedure
will terminate within finite steps of inference for arbitrary KB and S.
– The semi-decidability is caused by
• infinite domain and incomplete axiom set (knowledge base)
• Ex: KB contains only one clause fact(x, x*y) <= fact(x-1, y). To prove fact(3, z)
will run forever
– By Godel's Incomplete Theorem, no logical system can be complete (e.g.,
no matter how many pieces of knowledge you include in KB, there is
always a legal sentence S such that neither S nor ~S logically follow KB).
– Closed world assumption is a practical way to circumvent this problem, but
it make the logical system non-monotonic, therefore non-FOL

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• Forward chaning
– Proof starts with the new fact P(a) <=, (often case specific data)
– Resolve it with rules Q(x) <= P(x) to derived new fact Q(a) <=
– Additional inference is then triggered by Q(a) <=, etc. The
process stops when the theorem intended to proof (if there is
one) has been generated or no new sentenced can be generated.
– Implication rules are always used in the way of modus ponens
(from premises to conclusions), i.e., in the direction of
implication arrows
– This defines a forward chaining inference procedure because it
moves "forward" from fact oward the goal (also called data
driven).

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• Backward chanining
– Proof starts with the goal query (theorem to be proven) <= Q(a)
– Resolve it with rules Q(x) <= P(x) to derived new query <= P(a)
– Additional inference is then triggered by <= P(a), etc. The process
stops when a null clause is derived.
– Implication rules are always used in the way of modus tollens
(from conclusions to premises), i.e., in the reverse direction of
implication arrows
– This defines a backward chaining inference procedure because it
moves “backward" from the goal (also called goal driven).
– Backward chaining is more efficient than forward chaining as it
is more focused. However, it requires that the goal (theorem to be
proven) be known prior to the inference

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