Introduction to logic

Professor Robert Solis

 Introduction to logic

In logic, letters are used to A statement is a sentence that

represent statements. has a truth value: true or false
represented by the letters T or
let p represent the F
statement, “all politicians
are honest” The following is not a
statement because it
let q represent the doesn’t have a truth value,
statement, “it is raining” “please close the door”
 Quantifiers

Quantifiers reveal a quantity (i.e., how much or how many). There are
two types of quantifiers

Universal (i.e., conveys the idea

Existential
of totality)
some
all
sometimes
always
there is
none
there exists
never
 Truth Tables

Words like AND (i.e., conjunction) are called connectives because

they connect component statements to form compound statements.

Consider the truth table to investigate p ^ q

p q p^q
F F F
F T F
T F F
T T T
 Truth Tables

Words like OR (i.e., disjunction) are called connectives because they

connect component statements to form compound statements.

Consider the truth table to investigate p v q

p q pvq
F F F
F T T
T F T
T T T

This form of the OR statement is also called “inclusive OR”

 Truth Tables

Logical NOT (i.e., negation) determines the opposite of.

Consider the truth table to investigate ~p

p ~p

T F

F T
 Examples of compound statements

Determine the truth table of the expression: ~(p ^ q)

p q p^q ~(p^q)
F F F T
F T F T
T F F T
T T T F
 Examples of compound statements

Determine the truth table of the expression: ~p v ~q

p q ~p ~q ~p v ~q
F F T T T
F T T F T
T F F T T
T T F F F
 Examples of compound statements

Notice from the previous truth tables that ~p v ~q has the same output
as ~(p ^ q). This is one of DeMorgan’s laws. DeMorgan’s second law
states that ~(p v q) is equivalent to ~p ^ ~q

p q ~(p ^ q) ~p v ~q
F F T T
F T T T
T F T T
T T F F
 Conditional statements

If p then q. Consider the following statement: “If I win the election, then
taxes will decrease.”

p : I win the election q: taxes will decrease

p is called the antecedent, while q is called the consequent

p q p -> q
F F T p -> q
F T T means
“if p then q”
T F F
T T T

Start from the bottom up.

If he won and taxes went down, he didn’t lie
If he won and taxes went up, he lied
If he didn’t win then who cares about the consequent because we can’t accuse him of lying.
 Negation of conditional statements
The negation of a conditional statement is as follows:
~(p -> q) = p ^ ~q

p q p -> q ~(p->q) p ~q p ^ ~q
F F T F F T F
F T T F F F F
T F F T T T T
T T T F T F F
 Negation of conditional statements
The negation of a conditional statement is as follows:
~(p -> q) = p ^ ~q

Consider the following conditional statement: “If I have money, then I’ll
go to the movies”

What does the negation of this statement look like? If you said, “I don’t
have money, so I won’t go to the movies” that would be wrong.

The correct negation is: “I have money and I do not go to the movies”
 Propositional Logic
• An assertion is a statement and not a question or giving an order
(i.e., an imperative).
• A proposition is an assertion which is either true or false, but not
both. In other words, you must be able to associate a truth value
with an assertion.
• Truth values are either TRUE or FALSE
• Consider the following examples of propositions
• 4 is a prime number.
• 3+3=6
• The moon is made of cheese

The truth value associated with “4 is a prime number” is false.

The truth value associated with “3 + 3 = 6” is true.
The truth value associated with “The moon is made of cheese” is false.
 Propositional Logic
• The following are not propositions
• x+y>4
• x=3
• are you leaving?
• buy four books
• In some special cases assertions may not be propositions
• “This statement is false” (this is a liar’s paradox)

“X + Y > 4”. Is this true or false. It depends on the value for X and Y. We cannot associate a unique truth value to this statement.
“X = 3”. Again, you can’t associate a unique truth value to this statement. If x is 3, the statement is true, but if x is 4 the statement is false.
“Are you leaving?” is not an assertion, rather its a question and therefore not a proposition.
“buy four books” is an order or imperative and therefore cannot be a proposition.
In general, if a statement is not an assertion it cannot be a proposition, but is special cases there can be assertions that are not proposition.
• “This statement is false” is an assertion, but not a proposition because you cannot associate a unique truth value (i.e., if this statement is true then it is false, but if it’s
false then its true). This is a liar’s paradox
 Propositional Variables
• A propositional variable indicates an arbitrary proposition with
unspecified truth value P, Q, R, …
• P, Q and R can represent or substutute for proposition statements
• e.g., P: John is 6 feet tall, Q: There are 4 cows in the barn
• Logical Connectives
• P and Q
• John is 6 feet tall and there are 4 cows in the barn.
• P or Q
• John is 6 feet tall or there are 4 cows in the barn.
• Not P
• John is not 6 feet tall
 Propositional Forms
• An assertion which contains at least one propositional variable is
called a propositional form.

AND ^ conjunction OR v disjunction

NOT ¬ inequality XOR ⊕ exclusive disjunction

 Truth Tables
AND Truth Table OR Truth Table XOR Truth Table
P Q P^Q P Q PvQ P Q P⊕Q
F F F F F F F F F
F T F F T T F T T
T F F T F T T F T
T T T T T T T T F

NOT Truth Table

P ¬P
F T
T F
 Well Formed Formula
• A well formed formula of propositional logic (i.e., a wff) is any
propositional form that connects variables.
• e.g., P ^ Q is a wff
• e.g., P v Q is a wff
• e.g., P ⊕ Q is a wff
 Implication
• P implies Q has the following notation: P Q
• P is called the premise (or the hypothesis, or antecedent)
• Q is called the conclusion (or the consequence or consequent)

Implication Truth Table

P Q P Q
F F T
F T T
T F F
T T T

- The notation for implication in some books may be → or ⊃

- Not the antecedent does not necessarily have to be related to the consequent. Consider the statement, “if the moon is made of cheese, then the earth is not round.”
This statement, even though the premise and conclusion are not related, is true according to the truth table because the premise and conclusion are both false.