Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!lll-winken!cert!netnews.upenn.edu!grad2.cis.upenn.edu!aaron From: aaron@grad2.cis.upenn.edu (Aaron Watters) Newsgroups: comp.databases Subject: Re: Outerjoin implementation? (4-valued question) Message-ID: <30712@netnews.upenn.edu> Date: 7 Oct 90 20:23:37 GMT References: <5803@plains.NoDak.edu> <30203@netnews.upenn.edu> <152008@felix.UUCP> Sender: news@netnews.upenn.edu Reply-To: aaron@grad2.cis.upenn.edu.UUCP (Aaron Watters) Distribution: comp Organization: University of Pennsylvania Lines: 15 One variety of 4 valued logic is unknown/true/false/error eg. `bush is president' is true. `dukakis is president' is false. `all space aliens are green' is unknown. `the king of North America is bald' is error. unknown means `this may be true or false or error, but we don't know which.' error means `this can't have any truth value' -- in the example above because any truth value requires the existence of someone who (last I heard) doesn't exist. -aaron