Probabilistic Disjunctive Normal Forms in Temporal Logic and Automata Theory

TL;DR

This paper introduces probabilistic disjunctive normal forms (PDNFs) as a novel framework for representing and reasoning about uncertainty in temporal logic and automata, combining logical and probabilistic approaches.

Contribution

It develops a formalism for PDNFs that integrates probabilistic reasoning with logical structures, including a vector space and Bayesian evidence fusion.

Findings

PDNFs form a Banach space allowing algebraic operations.

Exponential parametrisation aligns PDNF addition with Bayesian evidence fusion.

Bounds for outcome identification from random samples are derived.

Abstract

This article introduces probabilistic disjunctive normal forms (PDNFs) as a framework for representing and reasoning about uncertainty in logical systems. Unlike classical DNFs, PDNFs assign real-valued weights to variables, encoding probabilistic information about their presence, absence, or negation. Then we construct a vector space of PDNFs that allows algebraic evidence combination. PDNFs are interpreted as probability distributions over venjunctions (temporal logic constructs) and as integrable functions over partitioned intervals, where the integrals determine variable probabilities. This dual perspective allows for a Banach space structure and the application of functional analysis. We demonstrate that, under exponential parametrisation, PDNF addition aligns with Bayesian evidence fusion and derive bounds for outcome identification from random samples. The formalism thus bridges logic, numerical methods, and continuous probability.