Republic of the Philippines

Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences

University of Northern Philippines

MATHEMATICS IN THE
MODERN WORLD

WORKSHEET 7
MATHEMATICAL LANGUAGE AND SYMBOLS
The Language of Logic

Name of Teacher: HELEN R. SIEMBRE, MAME

 School: University of Northern Philippines-Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Quarter 1: Week 10 importance of precision and conciseness. It allows us to determine the validity of an
SELF LEARNING KIT #8 argument in and out of mathematics. For lawyers, they use logic to
communicate more effectively, construct arguments, analyze legal contracts, and
Lesson 2.1: The Language of Logic make decisions.

In logic, assertions are made by combining words and symbols in the form of
sentences. Such assertions are called statements or propositions, which are
Learning Competencies
declarative sentences that are either true or false – but not both.
The learner will be able to:
A statement or proposition may be denoted by a variable like P, Q, R,…
• define Logic
• Logical connectives Examples:
• The truth table P: University of Northern Philippines is in Vigan City.

Q: Light is faster than sound.

The Language of Logic
R: 1 + 3 = 4.

S: 7 is an even number.
This lesson introduces the basic concepts of elementary
logic to determine the truth or falsity of statements.
Simple and compound statement

Source: A simple statement is a statement that conveys a single idea. A compound

google.com statement is a statement that conveys two or more ideas. It is formed by connecting
simple statements with words and phrases such as and, or, if…then, if and only if,
etc.
Logic

Examples:

What is logic? 1. 20 is divisible by 4.

Logic is the study of correct thinking and reasoning. It uses principles aand
2. Taylor Swift is a singer and Stephen Curry is a basketball player. 3.
methods to distinguish valid arguments from those that are not. It is the foundation
If a polygon has three sides, then it is a triangle.
for expressing logical methods used to prove theorems, design computer software,
and to solve mathematical problems. 4. Mark goes to gym or stays at home every Friday.
Logic is a tool for working with complicated statements. It illustrates the
Statement 1 is a simple statement while statements 2, 3, and 4 are
 examples of compound statements.
The following are compound statements formed by using logical
connectives. Write the following statements:
Logical Connectives a. q ˄ p
Connecting simple statements with words and phrases such as and, or, if…then, b. q ˅ r
and if and only if createds a compound statement. For instance, “My mother attends a c. ⁓ r
meeting or buys in a grocery store”. The word or is a connective for the two simple
statements. d. p → s

Logical connective is a word or symbol that joins two sentences to produce a new e. s ↔ p
one. George Boole uses symbols such as p, q, r, and s to represent simple statements
and the symbols ˄, ˅, ⁓, →, ↔ to represent connectives.
Solutions:

a. I play video games and review my lessons.

Logical Connectives and Symbols
b. I play video games or go to the beach.
Statements Connective Symbolic Form Type
of Statement c. I do not go to the beach.

not p not ⁓p negation d. If I review my lessons, then I get a reward.

p and q and p˄q conjunction e. I get a reward if and only if I review my lessons.

p or q or p˅q disjunction
Example 2. Indicate the simple statements by p and q and express the
If p, then q If…then p→q implication/conditional
compound statement in symbolic form of the following compound statements.
p if and only if q if and only if p↔q biconditional
a. John can program in C++ and he can program in Java. b. If x is

an even number then it is a multiple of 2.

Example1: Solution:
Let p: I review my lessons. a. p: John can program in C++.
q: I play video games. q: John can program in Java.
r: I go to the beach. p˄q
s: I get a reward. b. p: x is an even number.
 the original proposition p.
q: x is a multiple of 2. b. Conjunction
p→s The conjunction of two statements p and q denoted by p ⋀ q is defined by the
Exercise: following truth table.
In every item, indicate what statements p, q, or r might stand for and then p q p⋀q
express the item using the correct symbol (⋀, ⋁, →, ↔, ¬).
T T T
1. r ≠ −10
T F F
2. 2 and -3 are rational zeroes of ��.
F T F
3. y ≤ x

4. If x = y, then y = x. F F F

5. Triangle ABC is a right triangle if and only if c2 = a2 + b2.

The only condition for p ⋀ q to be a true statement is when both p and q are
true.

The Truth Table c. Disjunction

The disjunction of two statements p and q denoted by p q is defined by the

following truth table.
The truth values of a compound statement are respectively determined by the
truth values of the original statements and the connectives used to form them. The p q p⋁q
decision of accepting or rejecting a statement depends on the truith values of a
T T T
proposition. An acceptable statement is given a truth value “true” and unacceptable
statement is given a truth value “false”. T F T
a. Negation.
F T T
If a proposition p is true, then the proposition ⁓ p is false. However, if p is
F F F
false, then ⁓ p is true.

For example:

Let p: “I study at University of Northern Philippines.” be a true statement. This means that the disjunction of two statements is true if and only if at keast
Then, ⁓ p is stated as “ I do not study at the University of Northern Philippines.” or “It one of the statements is true.
is false that I study at the University of Northern Philippines.” Which is a negation of
 be true. The only way that this can fail (or be false) is when p is true while q is false.
The truth table of p → q is given in the following table.
d. Implication or Conditional

In a conditional statement, the truth of p implies the truth of q. If p is true, then q must
a. [(⁓T ⋀ F) → T ] ⋁ F
T
[(F ⋀ F) → T ] ⋁ F
T
(F → T) ⋁ F
F
T⋁F
F
e. Biconditional T
p

The biconditional statement p ↔ ��, is defined by the following truth table.

p q p↔ Example 1. Given the truth values of the propositions A, B, C, and D. If A is
�� true, B is false, C is true, and D is false, give the truth value of the following:

T T T a. [(⁓A ⋀ B) → C ] ⋁ D

T F F b. [ (A → B) → ⁓ C] ↔ [⁓ B → ⁓ ( C ⋀ D)]

F T F

F F T
Solutions:

We simply substitute the truth value of each proposition, i.e.

Summary of truth values of compound statements using logical connectives
p q p⋀q p⋁q p→q p ↔ �� b. [ (A → B) → ⁓ C] ↔ [⁓ B → ⁓ ( C ⋀ D)]
T T T T T T [ (T → F) → ⁓ T] ↔ [⁓ F → ⁓ ( T ⋀ F)]
T F F T F F (F → F) ↔ (T → ⁓ F)

F T F T T F T ↔ (T → T)

F F F F T T T↔T

T
 p q ⁓p p⋀q [⁓ p → ( p ⋀ q)]

Example 2. Construct a truth table for T T F T T

a. [⁓ p → ( p ⋀ q)] T F F F T

F T T F F
b. [ (p ↔ q) ⋁ (p → r)] → ⁓ (q ⋀ r)
F F T F F
Solution:

a. [⁓ p → ( p ⋀ q)]

Since it involves 2 propositions, there are 4 combinations.

b. [(p ↔ q) ⋁ (p → r)] → ⁓ (q ⋀ r)

Since it involves 3 propositions, there are 8 combinations.

p q r (p↔ (p→r (p ↔ (q⋀r ⁓(q⋀r [(p↔q)⋁(p→r)]→⁓(q⋀r)
q) ) q)⋁(p→r) ) )

T T T T T T T F F

T T F T F T F T T

T F T F T T F T T

T F F F F F F T T

F T T F T T T F F

F T F F T T F T T

F F T T T T F T T

F F F T T T F T T