  Frege believed that these statements all have the form ‘\(a=b\)’, where ‘\(a\)’ and ‘\(b\)’ are either names or descriptions that denote individuals. He naturally assumed that a sentence of the form ‘\(a=b\)’ is true if and only if the object \(a\) just is (identical to) the object \(b\). For example, the sentence ‘\(117+136 = 253\)’ is true if and only if the number \(117+136\) just is the number \(253\). And the statement ‘Mark Twain is Samuel Clemens’ is true if and only if the person Mark Twain just is the person Samuel Clemens.