Comparing expressiveness of set constructor symbols

Abstract

In this paper we consider the relative expressive power of two very common operators applicable to sets and multisets: the with and the union operators. For such operators we prove that they are not mutually expressible by means of existentially quantied formulae. In order to prove our results, canonical forms for set-theoretic and multisettheoretic formulae are established and a particularly natural axiomatization of multisets is given and studied.