Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Propositional Logic
Lucia Moura

Winter 2010

CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Propositional Logic: Section 1.1

Proposition
A proposition is a declarative sentence that is either true or false.
Which ones of the following sentences are propositions?
Ottawa is the capital of Canada.
Buenos Aires is the capital of Brazil.
2+2=4
2+2=5
if it rains, we dont need to bring an umbrella.
x+2=4
x+y =z
When does the bus come?
Do the right thing.
CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Propositional Logic: Section 1.1

Propositional variable and connectives

We use letters p, q, r, . . . to denote propositional variables (variables that
represent propositions).
We can form new propositions from existing propositions using logical
operators or connectives. These new propositions are called compound
propositions.
Summary of connectives:
name
nickname
symbol
negation
NOT

conjunction
AND

disjunction
OR

exclusive-OR XOR

implication
implies

biconditional if and only if

CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Propositional Logic: Section 1.1

Meaning of connectives
p
T
T
F
F

q
T
F
T
F

p
F
F
T
T

pq
T
F
F
F

pq
T
T
T
F

pq
F
T
T
F

pq
T
F
T
T

pq
T
F
F
T

WARNING:
Implication (p q) causes confusion, specially in line 3: F T is true.
One way to remember is that the rule to be obeyed is
if the premise p is true then the consequence q must be true.
The only truth assignment that falsifies this is p = T and q = F .

CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Propositional Logic: Section 1.1

Truth tables for compound propositions

Construct the truth table for the compound proposition:

(p q) (p q)
p
T
T
F
F

q
T
F
T
F

q
F
T
F
T

p q

CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

pq

(p q) (p q)

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Propositional Equivalences: Section 1.2

Propositional Equivalences
A basic step is math is to replace a statement with another with
the same truth value (equivalent).
This is also useful in order to reason about sentences.
Negate the following phrase:
Miguel has a cell phone and he has a laptop computer.
p=Miguel has a cell phone
q=Miguel has a laptop computer.
The phrase above is written as (p q).
Its negation is (p q), which is logically equivalent to p q.
(De Morgans law)
This negation therefore translates to:
Miguel does not have a cell phone or he does not have a laptop
computer.
CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Propositional Equivalences: Section 1.2

Truth assignments, tautologies and satisfiability

Definition
Let X be a set of propositions.
A truth assignment (to X) is a function : X {true, f alse} that
assigns to each propositional variable a truth value. (A truth assignment
corresponds to one row of the truth table)
If the truth value of a compound proposition under truth assignment is
true, we say that satisfies P , otherwise we say that falsifies P .
A compound proposition P is a tautology if every truth assignment
satisfies P , i.e. all entries of its truth table are true.
A compound proposition P is satisfiable if there is a truth assignment
that satisfies P ; that is, at least one entry of its truth table is true.
A compound proposition P is unsatisfiable (or a contradiction) if it
is not satisfiable; that is, all entries of its truth table are false.
CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Propositional Equivalences: Section 1.2

Examples: tautology, satisfiable, unsatisfiable

For each of the following compound propositions determine if it is a

tautology, satisfiable or unsatisfiable:
(p q) p q
p q r (p q r)
(p q) (p q)

CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Propositional Equivalences: Section 1.2

Logical implication and logical equivalence

Definition
A compound proposition p logically implies a compound proposition q
(denoted p q) if p q is a tautology.
Two compound propositions p and q are logically equivalent (denoted
p q, or p q ) if p q is a tautology.

Theorem
Two compound propositions p and q are logically equivalent if and only if
p logically implies q and q logically implies p.
In other words: two compound propositions are logically equivalent if and
only if they have the same truth table.

CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Propositional Equivalences: Section 1.2

Logically equivalent compound propositions

Using truth tables to prove that (p q) and p q are logically
equivalent, i.e.
(p q) p q

p
T
T
F
F

q
T
F
T
F

p
F
F
T
T

p q
T
F
T
T

pq
T
F
T
T

What is the problem with this approach?

CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Propositional Equivalences: Section 1.2

Truth tables versus logical equivalences

Truth tables grow exponentially with the number of propositional variables!

A truth table with n variables has 2n rows.
Truth tables are practical for small number of variables, but if you have,
say, 7 variables, the truth table would have 128 rows!
Instead, we can prove that two compound propositions are logically
equivalent by using known logical equivalences (equivalence laws).

CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Propositional Equivalences: Section 1.2

Summary of important logical equivalences I

Note T is the compound composition that is always true, and F is the compound composition that is always false.
CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Propositional Equivalences: Section 1.2

Summary of important logical equivalences II

Rosen, page 24-25.

CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Propositional Equivalences: Section 1.2

Proving new logical equivalences

Use known logical equivalences to prove the following:

1

Prove that (p q) p q.

Prove that (p q) (p q) is a tautology.

CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Normal forms for compound propositions

Normal forms for compound propositions

A literal is a propositional variable or the negation of a propositional
variable.
A term is a literal or the conjunction (and) of two or more literals.
A clause is a literal or the disjunction (or) of two or more literals.

Definition
A compound proposition is in disjunctive normal form (DNF) if it is a
term or a disjunction of two or more terms. (i.e. an OR of ANDs).
A compound proposition is in conjunctive normal form (CNF) if it is a
clause or a conjunction of two or more clauses. (i.e. and AND of ORs)

CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Normal forms for compound propositions

Disjunctive normal form (DNF)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

x
F
F
F
F
T
T
T
T

y
F
F
T
T
F
F
T
T

z
F
T
F
T
F
T
F
T

x y x z
T
T
F
T
F
F
F
F

The formula is satisfied by the truth assignment in row 1 or

by the truth assignment in row 2 or by the truth assignment in row 4.
So, its DNF is : (x y z) (x y z) (x y z)
CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Normal forms for compound propositions

Conjunctive normal form (CNF)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

x
F
F
F
F
T
T
T
T

y
F
F
T
T
F
F
T
T

z
F
T
F
T
F
T
F
T

x y x z
T
T
F
T
F
F
F
F

The formula is not satisfied by the truth assignment in row 3 and

in row 5 and in row 6 and in row 7 and in row 8. So:, it is log. equiv. to:
(xy z)(xy z)(xy z)(xy z)(xy z)
apply DeMorgans law to obtain its CNF:
(x y z) (x y z) (x y z) (x y z) (x y z)
CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Boolean functions and the design of digital circuits

Let B = {f alse, true} (or B = {0, 1}). A function f : B n B is called a
boolean function of degree n.

Definition
A compound proposition P with propositions x1 , x2 , . . . , xn represents a
Boolean function f with arguments x1 , x2 , . . . , xn if for any truth
assignment , satisfies P if and only if
f ( (x1 ), (x2 ), . . . , (xn )) = true.

Theorem
Let P be a compound proposition that represents a boolean function f .
Then, a compound proposition Q also represents f if and only if Q is
logically equivalent to P .

CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Complete set of connectives (functionally complete)

Theorem
Every boolean formula can be represented by a compound proposition that
uses only connectives {, , } (i.e. {, , } is functionally complete ).
Proof: use DNF or CNF!
This is the basis of circuit design:
In digital circuit design, we are given a functional specification of the
circuit and we need to construct a hardware implementation.
functional specification = number n of inputs + number m of outputs
+ describe outputs for each set of inputs (i.e. m boolean functions!)
Hardware implementation uses logical gates: or-gates, and-gates,
inverters.
The functional specification corresponds to m boolean functions which we
can represent by m compound propositions that uses only {, , }, that
is, its hardware implementation uses inverters, and-gates and or-gates.
CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura

Propositional Logic Basics

Propositional Equivalences

Normal forms

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Boolean functions and digital circuits

Consider the boolean function represented by x y x z.
Give a digital circuit that computes it, using only {, , }.
This is always possible since {, , } is functionally complete (e.g. use
DNF or CNF).
Give a digital circuit that computes it, using only {, }.
This is always possible, since {, } is functionally complete:
Proof: Since {, , } is functionally complete, it is enough to show how
to express x y using only {, }:
(x y) (x y)
Give a digital circuit that computes it, using only {, }.
Prove that {, } is functionally complete.
CSI2101 Discrete Structures Winter 2010: Propositional Logic

Lucia Moura