MATH AS A LANGUAGE

Propositional Calculus

A proposition is a complete declarative sentence that is either true or false, but not both.

Example:

a) Manila is the capital of the Philippines. Proposition True

b) Shanghai is the capital of China. Proposition False
c) 1+1=2 Proposition True
d) 2+2=3 Proposition False
e) Is it time? Not a proposition because not a declarative statement
f) Pay attention to this Not a proposition because not a declarative statement
g) x+1=2 {Not a proposition because it is neither true nor false,
h) x+y=z { since the variables have no assigned values yet

If a proposition is true, its truth value is true, denoted by T. If it is false, its truth value is false,
denoted by F.

Connectives and Compound Propositions

A propositional connective is an operation that combines two propositions to yield a new one
whose truth value depends only on the truth values of the two original propositions.

Propositions built up by combining propositions using propositional connectives are called

compound propositions.

The propositional connectives ˄, ˅, , , and  (called conjunction, disjunction, exclusive or,

implication, and biconditional, respectively) are defined by the following truth tables.

p q p˄q p˅q pq pq pq

T T T T F T T
T F F T T F F
F T F T T T F
F F F F F T T

Note: The connective ˅ is a symbol for or in the inclusive sense of “and/or” while  is a symbol for or in
the exclusive sense of “either but not both”.

Example: Let p and q be the propositions “Today is Friday” and “It is raining today”, respectively.
Find (a) p˄q, (b) p˅q, (c) pq, (d) pq.

Solution:

(a) p˄q : “Today is Friday and it is raining today.”

(b) p˅q: “Today is Friday or it is raining today.”

(c) pq: “If today is Friday, then it is raining today.”

(d) pq: “Today is Friday if and only if it is raining today.”

 If p is a proposition, the expression p is defined as a new proposition with the following truth
table.

p p
T F
F T

The expression p is read as “not p”. The symbol  is called the negation connective. It should
be noted that  is a unary rather than a binary connective.

Example: Find the negation of the proposition “Today is Friday.”

Solution: “It is not the case that today is Friday,” or simply “Today is not Friday.”

Bit Operations

Bit is short for binary digit. Computers represent information using bits. A bit has two possible
values, 0 and 1, which represent a truth value. As customarily done, 1 will be used to represent T and 0
will be used to represent F.

Computer bit operations also correspond to the propositional connectives. By replacing T by 1

and F by 0 in the truth tables for ˅, ˄, and , the following tables are derived for the bit operations OR,
AND, and XOR, respectively.

OR 0 1 AND 0 1 XOR 0 1
0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0

A bit string is a sequence of zero or more bits. The length of this string is the number of bits in
the string.

Example: 101001100 is a bit string of length 9.

The bitwise OR, bitwise AND, and bitwise XOR of two strings of the same length are defined as
the strings that have as their bits the connectives OR, AND, and XOR of the corresponding bits in the two
strings, respectively.

Example: Consider the two bit strings 01101 10110 and 11000 11101. Find

a) bitwise OR
b) bitwise AND
c) bitwise XOR

Solution:

a) bitwise OR: 11101 11111

b) bitwise AND: 010000 10100
c) bitwise XOR: 10101 01011
Tautology, Contradiction, and Contingency

A compound proposition that is always true, regardless of the truth values of the propositions
that occur in it, is called a tautology. A contradiction is a compound proposition that is always false
while a contingency is neither a tautology nor a contradiction.

Consider the compound propositions p ˄ p and p ˅ p. The compound proposition p ˅ p is

a tautology while p ˄ p is a contradiction.

p p p ˄ p p ˅ p
T F F T
F T F T

The propositions p and q are logically equivalent if p  q is a tautology. It is denoted by the

notation p  q.

Example: Show that the following are logically equivalent: (p ˅ q) and p ˄ q

Solution:

p q p˅q (p ˅ q) p q p ˄ q
T T T F F F F
T F T F F T F
F T T F T F F
F F F T T T T
The following problem set will be part of your PT for problem sets. Write your solutions and answers
neatly in short sized bond paper/s, encoded or handwritten, due on or before _____________.

Problem Set 1: Language of Math

1. Determine which of the following sentences are propositions and indicate their truth values.
a) Legazpi is the capital of Albay.
b) 3 + 4 = 7
c) x + y = y + x for every pair of real numbers x and y
d) x + 3 = 15
e) x + 1 = 5 if x = 1
f) Answer this question.
2. Provide the negation of each of the following propositions.
a) Today is Tuesday.
b) There is no pollution in Makati.
3. Let p and q be the propositions:
p: I buy lotto ticket today.
q: I win the 135 million peso jackpot on Saturday.
Express each of the following propositions as an English sentence.
a) p ˄ q
b) p ˅ (p ˄ q)
c) p  q
d) p  q
4. Let p and q be the propositions:
p: It is very cold.
q: It is raining.
Write the following propositions using p, q, and logical connectives.
a) It is very cold and raining.
b) It is very cold but not raining.
c) If it is very cold, it is also raining.
d) It is either very cold or it is raining, but it is not raining if it is very cold.
5. Construct a truth table for each of the following compound propositions. (3 pts. each)
a) p ˄ p
b) p  q
c) p  q
d) (p ˅ q)  (p ˄ q)
e) (p  q)  (p ˅ r)
6. Evaluate the following expressions. (2 pts. each)
a) 11000 ˄ (01011 ˅ 11011)
b) (11011 ˅ 01010) ˄ (10001 ˅ 11011)
7. Find the bitwise OR, bitwise AND, and bitwise XOR of each pair f bit strings. (3 pts. each)
a) 1011110, 0100001
b) 11110000, 10101010
8. Use truth tables to verify the following equivalences. (4 pts. each)
a) p ˄ T  p
b) p ˅ q  q ˅ p
c) (p ˄ q)  p ˅ q
d) (p  q)  r  p  (q  r)
9. Show that each of the following implications is a tautology by using the truth tables. (5 pts.
each)
a) (p ˄ q)  p
 b) p  (p  q)
c) [p ˄ (p ˅ q)]  q
d) {[(p ˅ q) ˄ p] ˄ q} (q ˄ q)
10. Create your own propositions or hypothesis using p, q, and r, then express in the following
logical connectives as an English sentence, then make a truth table to verify if each compound
proposition is a tautology. (10 pts. each)
Ex. P: Roses are red
Q: Violets are blue
R: You are sweet
Either roses are red and violets are blue, or violets are not blue but you are sweet.
a) (p ˄ q) ˅ (q ˄ r)
b) [(p ˅ q) ˄ r)] [(p ˄ r) ˅ q]
c) Make your own logical connectives expressed in English.