Formal

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The term formal has a number of uses, including:

Contents 1 General 2 Social 3 Philosophical 4 Mathematics 4.1 Logic and Language 5 Computer science 6 Linguistic 7 Chemical 8 Political Science 9 See also

[edit] General

• relating to formality

[edit] Social

• Formal occasion
  • Formal attire worn on such occasions
  • Formal (university) are particular meals at some British universities
  • In Australian or British English, a School formal is the equivalent of the American prom dance

[edit] Philosophical

• relating to form, i.e. appearance rather than essence.
  • relating to Formalism, i.e. emphasis on form over content or meaning.
• formal logic logical argument based only on the form and not on the meaning.
• Formal cause, Aristotle's intrinsic, determining cause.

[edit] Mathematics

• formal power series, a generalization of power series without requiring convergence, used in combinatorics;
• formal calculation, a calculation which is systematic, but without a rigorous justification;
• formal set theory as opposed to naive set theory;
• formal derivative, an operation on elements of a polynomial ring which mimics the form of the derivative from calculus.

[edit] Logic and Language

• formal system, an abstract means of generating inferences in a formal language;
  • formal language, comprising the symbolic "words" or "sentences" of a formal system;
    • formal grammar, a grammar describing a formal language;
  • formal proof, a fully rigorous proof as is possible only in a formal system.

[edit] Computer science

• formal methods in computer science, including:
  • formal specification describes what a system should do, not how it should do it
  • formal verification proves correctness of a system

[edit] Linguistic

• Formal equivalence word-for-word translation (especially of the Bible)

[edit] Chemical

• A unit of concentration
• short or prefix form for formalin
• short or prefix form for formaldehyde
• synonym for dimethoxymethane

[edit] Political Science

• Formal theory refers to mathematical modeling, because otherwise "theory" refers more broadly to political philosophy

[edit] See also

• Informal economy

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