Scribd
Upload
94 views7 pages

Math RDP

The document is an introduction to truth tables and Boolean algebra. It defines a truth table as a mathematical table that lists all possible truth values for statements represented by variables to determine if a compound statement is true or false. It then explains unary operators like negation that operate on a single value, and binary operators like AND, OR, XOR that operate on two values. Conditional operators like implication are also covered.

Uploaded by

Jhace Cruz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
94 views7 pages

Math RDP

The document is an introduction to truth tables and Boolean algebra. It defines a truth table as a mathematical table that lists all possible truth values for statements represented by variables to determine if a compound statement is true or false. It then explains unary operators like negation that operate on a single value, and binary operators like AND, OR, XOR that operate on two values. Conditional operators like implication are also covered.

Uploaded by

Jhace Cruz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 7

A truth table is a mathematical table used to determine if a compound statement is true or false.

In a
truth table, each statement is typically represented by a letter or variable, like p, q, or r, and each
statement also has its own corresponding column in the truth table that lists all of the possible truth
values.Mar 14, 2016

A truth table is a handy little logical device that shows up not only in mathematics but also in
Computer Science and Philosophy, making it an awesome interdisciplinary tool. The notation may
vary depending on what discipline you’re working in, but the basic concepts are the same.
This primer will equip you with the knowledge you need to understand symbolic logic. We’ll start with
defining the common operators and in the next post, I’ll show you how to dissect a more complicated
logic statement.

What is Boolean Algebra?

Boolean Algebra is a branch of algebra that involves bools, or true and false values. They’re typically
denoted as T or 1 for true and F or 0 for false. Using this simple system we can boil down complex
statements into digestible logical formulas.

Unary Operators

Unary operators are the simplest operations because they can be applied to a single True or False
value.

Identity

The identity is our trivial case. It states that True is True and False is False.

Negation

The negation operator is commonly represented


by a tilde (~) or ¬ symbol. It negates, or switches,
something’s truth value.

We can show this relationship in a truth table. A


truth table is a way of organizing information to
list out all possible scenarios.

We title the first column p for proposition. In the


second column we apply the operator to p, in this
case it’s ~p (read: not p). So as you can see if our
premise begins as True and we negate it, we
obtain False, and vice versa.

Logical True and Logical False

These are kinda strange operations. Logical true always results in True and logical false always results in
False no matter the premise. These operations are often referred to as “always true” and “always false”.
Binary Operators

Binary operators require two propositions. We’ll use p and q as our sample propositions.

AND

The AND operator (symbolically: ∧) also known as logical conjunction requires both p and q to be True
for the result to be True. All other cases result in False. This is logically the same as the intersection of
two sets in a Venn Diagram.

NOR

Logical NOR (symbolically: ↓) is the exact opposite of OR. It requires both p and q to be False to result in
True.
XOR

Exclusive Or, or XOR for short, (symbolically: ⊻) requires exactly one True and one False value in order to
result in True.

Conditional Operators

Implication

Logical implication (symbolically: p → q), also known as “if-then”, results True in all cases except the
case T → F. Since this can be a little tricky to remember, it can be helpful to note that this is logically
equivalent to ¬p ∨ q (read: not p or q)*.
Let’s create a second truth table to demonstrate they’re equivalent. To do this, write the p and q
columns as usual. Then add a “¬p” column with the opposite truth values of p. Lastly, compute ¬p ∨ q by
OR-ing the second and third columns. Remember to result in True for the OR operator, all you need is
one True value.

*It’s important to note that ¬p ∨ q ≠ ¬(p ∨ q). In the first case p is being negated, whereas in the second
the resulting truth value of (p ∨ q) is negated.

Logical Equality

Also known as the biconditional or if and only if (symbolically: ←→), logical equality is the conjunction (p
→ q) ∧ (q → p). In other words, it’s an if-then statement where the converse is also true.

The only way we can assert a conditional holds in both directions is if both p and q have the same truth
value, meaning they’re both True or both False. This is why the biconditional is also known as logical
equality.
https://medium.com/i-math/intro-to-truth-tables-boolean-algebra-73b331dd9b94

You might also like