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M , N ::
= x | ʻx.M | MN
which says that ʛ is the least set satisfying the following three rules:
M
ʻx.M
MN
MN
x
A set of ground rules R determines an operator R : X
X , which maps a set S
to the set
R ( S )
S
S :( S , x )
={
x
|∃
R
}
which includes all the elements derivable from those in S by using the rules in R .
A set S is forward-closed under R iff R ( S )
Definition 2.4
S ; a set S is backward-
R ( S ).
In other words, if S is forward-closed, then
closed under R iff S
S S :( S , x )
x X :(
R )
x S
If S is backward-closed, then
S
S :( S , x )
x
X : x
S
(
R )
Given a set of rules R on X ,welet
| R ( S )
R ( S )
S f =
{
S
X
S
}
and
S b =
{
S
X
|
S
}
.
So S f is the intersection of all forward-closed sets and S b is the union of all backward-
closed sets. Note that R is monotone on the complete lattice (
). It follows
from Theorem 2.1 that S f is in fact the least fixed point of R and S b is the greatest
fixed point of R . Usually, an object is defined inductively (resp. coinductively )if
it is the least (resp. greatest ) fixed point of a function. So the set S f (resp. S b )is
inductively (resp. coinductively) defined by the set of rules R .
P
( X ),
Example 2.6 The set of finite lists with elements from a set A is the set List induc-
tively defined by the following two rules, i.e. the least set closed forward under these
rules.
a
Al
List
(2.2)
nil
List
a
·
l
List
In contrast, the set of all finite or infinite lists is coinductively defined by the same
rules, i.e. the greatest set closed backward under the two rules above; the set of all
infinite lists is the set coinductively defined by the second rule above, i.e. the greatest
set closed backward under the second rule.
The two rules in ( 2.2 ) are not ground rules because they are not in the form shown
in ( 2.1 ). However, we can convert them into ground rules. Take X to be the set of all
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