In
logic, a
clause is an expression formed from a finite collection of
literals (variables or their negations) that is true either whenever at least one of the literals that form it is true (a disjunctive clause, the most common use of the term), or when all of the literals that form it are true (a conjunctive clause, a less common use of the term). That is, it is a finite
disjunction or
conjunction of literals, depending on the context. Clauses are usually written as follows, where the symbols
![](http://info.babylon.com/onlinebox.cgi?rt=GetFile&uri=!!ARV6FUJ2JP&type=0&index=204)
are literals:
![](http://info.babylon.com/onlinebox.cgi?rt=GetFile&uri=!!ARV6FUJ2JP&type=0&index=1317)