Symbolic Logic

What is logic?

Importance of Mathematical Logic

The rules of logic give precise meaning to mathematical statements. These rules are used to
distinguish between valid and invalid mathematical arguments. Apart from its importance in
understanding mathematical reasoning, logic has numerous applications in Computer Science,
varying from design of digital circuits, to the construction of computer programs and verification
of correctness of programs.

Propositional Logic is concerned with statements to which the truth values, “true” and “false”,
can be assigned. The purpose is to analyze these statements either individually or in a
composite manner.
 Remarks:
For the purpose for this matter. Let use small case letters as symbol to denote atomic
proposition. A single statement/proposition can be represented with a letter(small case English
alphabet).
Connectives
In propositional logic generally we use five connectives which are −
 Disjunction: OR (∨)
 Conjunction: AND (∧)
 Negation/ NOT (¬)
 Implication / if-then (→)
 If and only if (⇔).
 Excluisve or :
Disjunction: OR (∨) − The OR operation of two propositions A and B (written as A∨B) is true
if at least any of the propositional variable A or B is true.
The truth table is as follows −
A B A∨B

True True True

True False True

False True True

False False False

Example:
Find the conjunction of the propositions p and q where p is the proposition “Rebecca’s PC has
more than 16 GB free hard disk space” and q is the proposition “The processor in Rebecca’s
PC runs faster than 1 GHz.”
Solution: The disjunction of p and q, p ∨ q, is the proposition. “Rebecca’s PC has at least 16 GB
free hard disk space, or the processor in Rebecca’s PC runs faster than 1 GHz.” This proposition
is true when Rebecca’s PC has at least 16 GB free hard disk space, when the PC’s processor runs
faster than 1 GHz, and when both conditions are true. It is false when both of these conditions
are false, that is, when Rebecca’s PC has less than 16 GB free hard disk space and the processor
in her PC runs at 1 GHz or slower.
Exclusive Or :XOR(⊕). Let p and q be propositions. The exclusive or of p and q, denoted
by p ⊕ q, is the proposition that is true when exactly one of p and q is true and is false
otherwise.
TABLE 4 The Truth Table for the Exclusive Or of Two Propositions.
p q p⊕q
T T F
T F T
F T T
F F F
Conjunction: (∧ read as AND) − The AND operation of two propositions A and B (written
as A∧B) is true if both the propositional variable A and B is true.
The truth table is as follows −
A B A∧B

True True True

True False False

False True False

False False False

Example:

Find the conjunction of the propositions p and q where p is the proposition “Rebecca’s PC has
more than 16 GB free hard disk space” and q is the proposition “The processor in Rebecca’s
PC runs faster than 1 GHz.”
Solution: The conjunction of these propositions, p ∧ q, is the proposition “Rebecca’s PC has
more than 16 GB free hard disk space, and the processor in Rebecca’s PC runs faster than 1
GHz.” This conjunction can be expressed more simply as “Rebecca’s PC has more than 16 GB
free hard disk space, and its processor runs faster than 1 GHz.” For this conjunction to be true,
both conditions given must be true. It is false, when one or both of these conditions are false

Negation (¬) − The negation of a proposition A (written as ¬A) is false when A is true and is
true when A is false.
The truth table is as follows −
A ¬A

True False

False True
EXAMPLE 3 Find the negation of the proposition: “Michael’s PC runs Linux” and express this in
simple English.
Solution: The negation is “It is not the case that Michael’s PC runs Linux.” This negation can be
more simply expressed as “Michael’s PC does not run Linux.”

Implication / if-then (→ − An implication A→B is the proposition “if A, then B”. It is false if A
is true and B is false. The rest cases are true.
The truth table is as follows :
 A B A→B

True True True

True False False

False True True

False False True

Example:
Let p be the statement “Maria learns discrete mathematics” and q the statement “Maria
will find a good job.” Express the statement p → q as a statement in English.
Solution: From the definition of conditional statements, we see that when p is the statement
“Maria learns discrete mathematics” and q is the statement “Maria will find a good job,” p → q
represents the statement “If Maria learns discrete mathematics, then she will find a good job.”
There are many other ways to express this conditional statement in English. Among the most
natural of these are:
“Maria will find a good job when she learns discrete mathematics.”
“For Maria to get a good job, it is sufficient for her to learn discrete mathematics.” and
“Maria will find a good job unless she does not learn discrete mathematics.”
BI CONDITIONAL:If and only if (⇔) − A⇔B is bi-conditional logical connective which is true
when p and q are same, i.e. both are false or both are true.
The truth table is as follows −
A B A⇔B

True True True

True False False

False True False

False False True

Example 1:
Given an integer it is true that is even if and only if is even. That is, if is even, then is even, as
well as the converse: if is even, then is even.
Example 2:
Let p be the statement “You can take the flight,” and let q be the statement “You buy a ticket.”
Then p ↔ q is the statement
“You can take the flight if and only if you buy a ticket.”
The Negation of a Conditional Statement
By definition, p →q is false if, and only if, its hypothesis, p, is true and its conclusion, q, is false.
It follows that The negation of “if p then q” is logically equivalent to “p and not q.”
Example:
Write negations for each of the following statements:
a. If my car is in the repair shop, then I cannot get to class.
b. If Sara lives in Athens, then she lives in Greece.
Solution
a. My car is in the repair shop and I can get to class.
b. Sara lives in Athens and she does not live in Greece. (Sara might live in Athens,
Georgia; Athens, Ohio; or Athens, Wisconsin.)
Tautologies
A Tautology is a formula which is always true for every value of its propositional variables.
Example − Prove [(A→B)∧A]→B is a tautology
The truth table is as follows −
A B A→B (A → B) ∧ A [( A → B ) ∧ A] → B
True True True True True
True False False False True
False True True False True
False False True False True
As we can see every value of [(A→B)∧A]→B is "True", it is a tautology.
Contradictions
A Contradiction is a formula which is always false for every value of its propositional variables.
Example − Prove (A∨B)∧[(¬A)∧(¬B)] is a contradiction
The truth table is as follows −
A B A∨B ¬A ¬B (¬ A) ∧ ( ¬ B) (A ∨ B) ∧ [( ¬ A) ∧ (¬ B)]

True True True False False False False

True False True False True False False

False True True True False False False

False False False True True True False

As we can see every value of (A∨B)∧[(¬A)∧(¬B)] is “False”, it is a contradiction.
Contingency
A Contingency is a formula which has both some true and some false values for every value of
its propositional variables.
Example − Prove (A∨B)∧(¬A)(A∨B)∧(¬A) a contingency
 The truth table is as follows −
A B A∨B ¬A (A ∨ B) ∧ (¬ A)

True True True False False

True False True False False

False True True True True

False False False True False

As we can see every value of (A∨B)∧(¬A)(A∨B)∧(¬A) has both “True” and “False”, it is a
contingency.
Propositional Equivalences
Two statements X and Y are logically equivalent if any of the following two conditions hold −
 The truth tables of each statement have the same truth values.
 The bi-conditional statement X⇔YX⇔Y is a tautology.
Example − Prove ¬(A∨B)and[(¬A)∧(¬B)] are equivalent
Testing by 1st method (Matching truth table)
A B A∨B ¬ (A ∨ B) ¬A ¬B [(¬ A) ∧ (¬ B)]

True True True False False False False

True False True False False True False

False True True False True False False

False False False True True True True

Here, we can see the truth values of ¬(A∨B)and[(¬A)∧(¬B)] are same, hence the statements are
equivalent.
Testing by 2nd method (Bi-conditionality)
A B ¬ (A ∨ B ) [(¬ A) ∧ (¬ B)] [¬ (A ∨ B)] ⇔ [(¬ A ) ∧ (¬ B)]

True True False False True

True False False False True

False True False False True

False False True True True

As [¬(A∨B)]⇔[(¬A)∧(¬B) is a tautology, the statements are equivalent.
Inverse, Converse, and Contra-positive
Implication / if-then (→) is also called a conditional statement. It has two parts −
 Hypothesis, p
 Conclusion, q
As mentioned earlier, it is denoted as p→q.
Example of Conditional Statement – “If you do your homework, you will not be punished.”
Here, "you do your homework" is the hypothesis, p, and "you will not be punished" is the
conclusion, q.
Inverse − An inverse of the conditional statement is the negation of both the hypothesis and
the conclusion. If the statement is “If p, then q”, the inverse will be “If not p, then not q”. Thus
the inverse of p→q is ¬p→¬q.
Example – The inverse of “If you do your homework, you will not be punished” is “If you do not
do your homework, you will be punished.”
Converse − The converse of the conditional statement is computed by interchanging the
hypothesis and the conclusion. If the statement is “If p, then q”, the converse will be “If q, then
p”. The converse of p→q is q→p.
Example − The converse of "If you do your homework, you will not be punished" is "If you will
not be punished, you do your homework”.
Contra-positive − The contra-positive of the conditional is computed by interchanging the
hypothesis and the conclusion of the inverse statement. If the statement is “If p, then q”, the
contra-positive will be “If not q, then not p”. The contra-positive of p→q is ¬q→¬p.
Example − The Contra-positive of " If you do your homework, you will not be punished” is "If
you are punished, you did not do your homework”.
Example:
What are the contrapositive, the converse, and the inverse of the conditional statement?
“The home team wins whenever it is raining?”
Solution: Because “q whenever p” is one of the ways to express the conditional statement
p → q, the original statement can be rewritten as
“If it is raining, then the home team wins.”
Consequently, the contrapositive of this conditional statement is
“If the home team does not win, then it is not raining.”
The converse is
“If the home team wins, then it is raining.”
The inverse is
“If it is not raining, then the home team does not win.”
Only If
It p and q are statements, p only if q means “if not q then not p,” or, equivalently, “if p then q.”
Example
Rewrite the following statement in if-then form in two ways, one of which is the contrapositive
of the other. John will break the world’s record for the mile run only if he runs the mile in
under four minutes.

Solution
 Version 1: If John does not run the mile in under four minutes, then he will not break the
world’s record.
Version 2: If John breaks the world’s record, then he will have run the mile in under four
minutes.
Order of Operations for Logical Operators
1. ∼ Evaluate negations first.
2. ∧,∨ Evaluate ∧ and ∨ second. When both are present, parentheses may be needed.
3. →,↔ Evaluate → and ↔ third. When both are present, parentheses may be needed.
Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
If r and s are statements:
r is a sufficient condition for s means “if r then s.”
r is a necessary condition for s means “if not r then not s.”
Example 1:
Rewrite the following statement in the form “If A then B”: Pia’s birth on U.S soil is a sufficient
condition for her to be a U.S. citizen.
Solution: If Pia was born on U.S. soil, then she is a U.S. citizen.
Example 2:
George’s attaining age 35 is a necessary condition for his being president of the United States.
Solution: If George has not attained the age of 35, then he cannot be president of the United
States.

Learning Activity 1
Direction: Follow the indicated instruction in each item.
1.

2. Let p and q be the propositions “The election is decided” and “The votes have been counted,”
respectively. Express each of these compound propositions as an English sentence.
 ￢p b) p ∨ q
  ￢p ∧ q d) q → p
 ￢q →￢p f ) ￢p →￢q
 (p ↔ q h) ￢q ∨ (￢p ∧ q)
3. Propositions p, q, r and s are defined as follows:
p is "I shall finish my Coursework Assignment"
q is "I shall work for forty hours this week"
r is "I shall pass Math"
s is "I like Math"
Write each sentence in symbols:
 I shall not finish my Coursework Assignment.
 I don’t like Math, but I shall finish my Coursework Assignment.
 If I finish my Coursework Assignment, I shall pass Math.
 I shall pass Math only if I work for forty hours this week and finish my
coursework assignment.
4. Use the same proposition in item 3.Write each expression as a sensible English sentence:
 q ∨ p
 ¬p ⇒ ¬r
5.

Learning Activity 2
Direction. Do what is ask in each number
1. Box the sentences that is a proposition and identify the truth value
 2 + 3 = 5.
 5 + 7 = 10.
 x + 2 = 11.
 Answer this question.
 Do not pass go.
 What time is it?
 4 + x = 5.
 The moon is made of green cheese.
  2n ≥ 100.
2. Give/ Write the negation of each proposition
 Mei has an MP3 player.
 2 + 1 = 3.
 Jennifer and Teja are friends.
 There are 13 items in a baker’s dozen.
 Abby sent more than 100 text messages every day.
 121 is a perfect square

Learning Activity 3:
Direction: Construct a truth table for each of these compound propositions and identify whether
they are tautology, contradiction or contingency
 p ∧￢p b) p ∨￢p
 (p ∨￢q) → q d) (p ∨ q) → (p ∧ q)
 (p → q) ↔ (￢q →￢p)
 (p → q) → (q → p)
 p ∧￢p
 p ∨￢p
 (p ∨￢q) → q
 (p ∨ q) → (p ∧ q)
 (p → q) ↔ (￢q →￢p)
 (p → q) → (q → p)

Learning Activity 4:
Direction: Write each of these propositions in the form “p if and only if q” in plain English
conversation.
1. For you to get an A in this course, it is necessary and sufficient that you learn how to
solve discrete mathematics problems.
2. If you read the newspaper every day, you will be informed, and conversely.
3. It rains if it is a weekend day, and it is a weekend day if it rains.
4. You can see the wizard only if the wizard is not If it is hot outside you buy an ice cream
cone, and if you buy an ice cream cone it is hot outside.
5. For you to win the contest it is necessary and sufficient that you have the only winning
ticket.
6. You get promoted only if you have connections, and you have connections only if you
get promoted.
7. If you watch television your mind will decay, and conversely.
8. The trains run late on exactly those days when I take it.
Learning Activity 5
Direction: Consider the statement about a party, “If it’s your birthday or there will be cake, then there
will be cake.”
(a) Translate the above statement into symbols. Clearly state which statement is p and which is
q.
(b) Make a truth table for the statement.
(c) Assuming the statement is true, what (if anything) can you conclude if there will be cake?
(d) Assuming the statement is true, what (if anything) can you conclude if there will not be
cake?
(e) Suppose you found out that the statement was a lie. What can you conclude?