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The Importance of Variables
Fraga used variables x's and y's to express propositions of arbitrary complexity. Bertrand Russell pointed out that a particular proposition can be expressed within Fraga's logic turns out to produce a contradiction. He wrote in 1902 to Fraga saying, here's this contradiction I've found. And clearly, if what you're trying to do is to build mathematics on the foundation of logic, the last thing you want to find is a contradiction in your system of logic.