ELEMENTARY LOGIC

Objectives:
a. Define simple statement and compound statement.
b. Write compound statements using connectives.
c. Express simple and compound statements symbolically.
d. Write the negation of a quantified statement.
Introduction:
It is not easy to summarize in a few paragraphs the subject matter known as logic. For lawyers and judges, logic is the
science of correct reasoning. They often use logic to communicate more effectively, construct valid arguments, analyze legal contracts,
and make decisions. Law schools consider a knowledge of logic to be one of the most important predictors of future success for their
new students.
Many other professions also make extensive use of logic. For instance, programmers use logic to design computer software,
electrical engineers use logic to design circuits for smart phones, and mathematicians use logic to solve problems and construct
mathematical proofs.
Logic is the study of the methods and principles used to discriminate correct from incorrect reasoning. As tertiary students,
you must know how to reason out logically and test the validity of an argument about any matter. You will learn about connectives,
quantifiers, negations, and variables which are essentials to modern logic and its symbolic language.

Lesson Proper
Every language contains different types of sentences, such as statements, questions, and commands. For instance,
“Is the test today?” is a question.
“Go get the newspaper” is a command.
“This is a nice car” is an opinion.
“Denver is the capital of Colorado” is a statement of fact.
The symbolic logic that Boole (George Boole, 1815-1864) was instrumental in creating applies only to sentences that are
statements as defined below.
A statement is a declarative sentence that is either true or false, but not both true and false.

It may not be necessary to determine whether a sentence is true to determine whether it is a statement. For instance, consider the following sentence.

“Yosemite National Park is located in California”

You may not know if the sentence is true, but you do know that the sentence is either true or it is false, and that it is not both true and false. Thus, you know that the sentence is a
statement.

Activity 1. Determine whether each sentence is a statement.

1. Open the door.
2. 7055 is a larger number.
3. In the year 2024, the president of the United States will be a woman.
4. x > 3.

A simple statement is a statement that conveys a single idea. A compound statement is a statement that conveys two or more ideas.
 Connecting simple statements with words and phrases such as and, or, if … then, and if and only if creates a compound
statement. For instance, “I will attend the meeting or I will go to school.” is a compound statement. It is composed of the two simple
statements, “I will attend the meeting.” and “I will go to school.” The word or is a connective for the two simple statements.

Simple Statement Compound Statement

The highest mountain in the Philippines is Mr. Apo The highest mountain in the Philippines is Mt. Apo, and
the second highest mountain is Mt. Pulag
Cebu is the oldest City in the Philippines We will go to Camiguin island or we will go to Mactan
island.

Consider the following simple statements.

p: Today is Friday
q: It is raining
r: I am going to a movie.
s: I am not going to the basketball game.

Activity 2. Write the following compound statements in symbolic form.

5. Today is Friday and it is raining.
6. It is not raining, and I am going to a movie.
7. I am going to the basketball game, or I am going to a movie.
8. If it is raining, then I am not going to the basketball game.

George Boole used symbols such as p, q, r, and s to represent simple statements and the symbols ∧, ∨, ¬, →, and ⇔
to represent connectives. Below are the symbols used for connectives.
Statement Connective Symbolic Form Type of Statement

p∧q
not p not ¬p Negation

p ∨q
p and q and Conjunction
p or q or Disjunction

p⇔q
If p, then q If … then p→q Conditional
p if and only if q If and only if biconditional

The first example of compound statement which is “The highest mountain in the Philippines is Mt. Apo, and the second
highest mountain is Mt. Pulag.” may be written using the following symbols.
Statement Symbol
The highest mountain in the Philippines is Mt. Apo p

p∧q
The second highest mountain is Mt. Pulag q
The highest mountain in the Philippines is Mt. Apo, and
the second highest mountain is Mt. Pulag

Quantifiers and Negation

In a statement, the word some and the phrases there exists and at least one are called existential quantifiers. Existential
quantifiers are used as prefixes to assert the existence of something.
In a statement, the words none, no, all and every are called universal quantifiers. The universal quantifiers none and no
deny the existence of something, whereas the universal quantifiers all and every are used to assert that every element of a given set
satisfies some condition.
 The negation of a false statement is a true statement, and the negation of a true statement is a false statement. It is important
to remember this fact when forming the negation of a quantified statement. For instance, the negation of the statement “All freshmen
students are graduates of the K-12 curriculum” is “Some freshmen students are not graduates of the K-12 curriculum.”

Quantified Statement Negation

No Y are Z. Some Y are Z.
Some Y are Z. No Y are Z.
Some Y are not Z. All Y are Z.
All Y are Z. Some Y are not Z.

Activity 3. Write the negation of each of the following statements.

9. Some airports are open.
10. All movies are worth the price of admission.
11. No odd numbers are divisible by 2.

Truth Value and Truth Tables

The truth value of a simple statement is either true (T) or false (F).
The truth value of a compound statement depends on the truth value of its simple statements and its
connectives.
A truth table is a table that shows the truth value of a compound statement for all possible truth values of its
simple statements.

The negation of the statement “Today is Friday.” Is the statement “Today is not Friday.” In symbolic logic, the tilde symbol ~
is used to denote the negation of a statement.
If a statement p is true, its negation ~p is false, and if a statement p is false, its negation ~p is true.

The negation of the negation of a statement is the original statement. Thus ~(~p) can be replaced by p in any
statement.

Activity 4. Consider the following statements.

p: The game will be played in Atlanta.
q: The game will be shown on CBS.
r The game will not be shown on ESPN.
s: The Mets are favored to win.
Write each of the following symbolic statements in words.
12. q ꓥ p

13. ~ r ꓥ s

14. s ↔ ~p

Truth Value of a Conjunction p ꓥ q

 The conjunction p ꓥ q is true if and only if both p and q are true.

Truth Value of a Disjunction p ꓦ q

The disjunction p ꓦ q is true if and only if p is true, q is true, or both p and q are true.

Truth Value of the Conditional p → q

The conditional p → q is false if p is true and q is false. It is true in all other cases.

Truth Tables
Negation Conjunction Disjunction

Conditional Biconditional

Activity 5. Construct a truth table for each compound statement.

15. p ꓦ [ ~ ( p ꓥ ~ q ) ].

16. ( p ꓦ q ) ꓥ [~ ( p ꓦ ~ q)]

17. ( p ꓥ ~ r) ꓦ [ ~ q ꓦ ( p ꓥ r)]

Activity 6. Determine the truth value of the compound statement given that p is a false statement, q is a true statement, and r is a
true statement.
18. [( p ꓥ q ) ꓥ r ] ꓦ [ p ꓦ ( q ꓥ ~ r)]

19. r ꓥ ~ ( p ꓦ r)

20. { [ ( ~ p ꓥ q ) ꓥ r] ꓦ [ ( p ꓥ q ) ꓥ ~ r ] } ꓦ [ p ꓥ ( q ꓥ r ) ]
Solutions to Activities 1 - 6:
1. The sentence “Open the door.” is a command. It is not a statement.
2. The word large is not a precise term. It is not possible to determine whether the sentence “7055 is a large number” is true or
false and thus the sentence is not a statement.

3. At this time we do not know whether the given sentence is true or false, but we know that the sentence is either true or false
and that it is not both true and false. Thus the sentence is a statement.

4. The sentence x > 3 is a statement because for any given value of x, the inequality x > 3 is true or false, but not both.

5. p ꓥ q

6. ~ q ꓥ r

7. ~ s ꓦ r

8. q → s

9. No airports are open.

10. Some movies are not worth the price of admission.

11. Some odd numbers are divisible by 2.

12. The game will be shown on CBS and the game will be played in Atlanta.

13. The game will be shown on ESPN and the Mets are favored to win.

14. The Mets are favored to win if and only if the game will not be played in Atlanta.