Universal quantification is quantification with the quantifier #$forAll
. In CycL formulas, variables which are not explicitly bound by a quantifier are assumed to be universally quantified. For example,
(forAll ?LEAF (implies (isa ?LEAF Leaf) (colorOfObject ?LEAF GreenColor)))
means that every leaf is green. But in CycL — wherein universal quantification is implicit for any apparently “open” variables in an assertion — the sentence above means the same as the following sentence:
(implies (isa ?LEAF Leaf) (colorOfObject ?LEAF GreenColor))
See also
- Existential quantification