Lecture on Lesson 3 - Symbolic Logic
Lecture on Lesson 3 - Symbolic Logic
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, the learner will have identified basic concepts in symbolic logic, translated
logical statements to symbols and vice versa, constructed a truth table, analyzed conditional statements by
writing its converse, inverse and, contrapositive, and evaluated the validity of a logical statement.
Guide questions
Use this guide questions to navigate through the keynotes and additional readings and media. Keep them in mind
while studying. You can use a separate note to pick up answers from the materials as move along with them.
1. Based on your own learning experience, how would you relate mathematics to the idea of logic?
2. What does it mean to reason mathematically?
3. How do you use logical reasoning to prove that statements are true?
Let us begin our discussion by watching the video “No, no, you’re not thinking; you’re just being logical”
by Martin Westwell of TEDxTalks (2015). This video is stored in the material section of GMathMod Google Classroom.
What is Logic?
Logic is the study of the principles of correct reasoning. It allows us to determine the validity of arguments in
and out of mathematics. It illustrates the importance of precision and conciseness of the language of mathematics.
The symbolic logic that Boole was instrumental in creating applies only to sentences that are statements as
defined below.
What is a Statement?
A statement is a declarative sentence that is either true or false, but not both true and false.
Examples:
a. Florida is a state in the United States.
b. How are you?
c. 𝑥 + 1 = 5.
Solution:
a. Florida is one of the 50 states in the United States, so this sentence is true and it is a statement.
b. The sentence “How are you?” is a question; it is not a declarative sentence. Thus it is not a statement.
c. 𝑥 + 1 = 5 is a statement. It is known as an open statement. It is true 𝑥 = 4, and it is false for any other
values of x. For any given value of x, it is true and false but not both.
What is Negation?
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 ~𝒑is true.
Example:
a. Ellie Goulding is an opera singer.
b. The dog does not need to be feed.
Solution:
a. Ellie Goulding is not an opera singer.
b. The dog needs to be feed.
Solutions:
1. 𝒑 ˄ 𝒒 2. ~𝒒 ˄ 𝒓 3. ~𝒔 ˅ 𝒓
1. Negation
The negation of a true statement is a false statement, and the negation of a false statement is a true
statement. The truth table for negation is given below.
𝒑 ~𝒑
T F
F T
Statement Negation
𝑝: The sun rises in the morning. ~𝑝: The sun does not rise in the morning.
𝑞: 2.54 is an integer. ~𝑞: 2.54 is not an integer.
𝑟: 4 + 4 = 8. ~𝑟: 4 + 4 ≠ 8.
𝑠: 3 is an even integer. ~𝑠: 3 is not an even integer.
We must show some caution in negating statements involving all, none and some. These words are
referred to as quantifiers.
2. Conjunction
The conjunction of the propositions p and q is the compound statement “𝑝 and 𝑞” denoted as 𝒑 ˄ 𝒒
which is true only when both 𝑝 and 𝑞 are true, otherwise, it is false. The conjunction is usually expressed as
and, however, it can also be expressed as but, however, or, nevertheless.
Example 2. Given the truth values of 𝑝 and 𝑞, state the truth value of the indicated statements.
a. 𝑝 true, 𝑞 false; ~𝑝 ˄ 𝑞
𝒑 𝒒 ~𝒑 ~𝒑 ˄ 𝒒
T F F F
3. Disjunction
The disjunction of the propositions p and q is the compound statement “p or q” denoted as 𝒑 ˅ 𝒒
which is false only when both p and q are false, otherwise, it is true.
4. Conditional
The conditional of the propositions p and q is the compound statement “If p, then q” denoted as 𝑝 →
𝑞 which is false only when both p is true, and q is false.
Solution:
a. If two angles are right angles, then they are equal.
b. If equal quantities are multiplied by equal quantities, then the results are equal quantities.
c. If a figure is a triangle, then it has three sides.
The clause following the word “if” of a statement in “if-then” form is called the hypothesis of the statement and the
clause following “then” is called the conclusion.
5. Biconditional
The biconditional of the propositions p and q is the compound statement “p if and only if q” denoted
as 𝑝 ↔ 𝑞 which is false only when both p is true, and q is false.
Example:
A. Construct the truth table for each of the following statements.
1. ~(~𝑝 ˅ 𝑞) ˅ 𝑞
2. (~𝑝 ˅ 𝑞) ˅ (𝑝 ˄ ~𝑞)
Now, we will discuss the conditional statements and how to convert this into its converse, inverse, and contrapositive
form.
Common Forms of 𝒑 → 𝒒
Solution:
a. The statement, “The number is an even number provided that it is divisible by 2.,” is in “q provided that p”
form. The antecedent is “it is divisible by 2,” and the consequent is “the number is an even number.” thus its
“If p, then q” form is “If it is divisible by 2, then the number is an even number.”
b. The statement, “Today is Friday, only if yesterday was Thursday” is in “p only if q” form. The antecedent is
“Today is Friday.” The consequent is “yesterday was Thursday.” Its “If p, then q” form is “If today is Friday,
then yesterday was Thursday.”
After discussing implication or conditional statement, we will now proceed with constructing the converse,
inverse, and contrapositive of every conditional statement.
• If the hypothesis and the conclusion in an implication are reversed, the new statement is called the converse
of the given statement. In symbols, the converse of 𝑝 → 𝑞 is 𝒒 → 𝒑.
• The inverse of an implication, “If 𝑝 then 𝑞” is “If not 𝑝, then not 𝑞.” In symbols, the invers of 𝑝 → 𝑞 is ~𝒑 →
~𝒒.
• The contrapositive of an implication is the converse of its inverse. To form the contrapositive of a statement,
we interchange the hypothesis and the conclusion and negate each. In symbols, the contrapositive of 𝑝 → 𝑞
is ~𝒒 → ~𝒑.
Example 1. Write the converse, inverse, and contrapositive of the statement below:
a. The opposite angles of a parallelogram are equal.
Solution:
p: Two angles of a parallelogram are opposite angles.
q: They are equal.
Conditional (𝑝 → 𝑞): If two angles of a parallelogram are opposite angles, then they are equal.
Converse (𝑞 → 𝑝): If two angles of a parallelogram are equal, then they are opposite angles.
Inverse (~𝑝 → ~𝑞): If two angles of a parallelogram are not opposite angles, then they are unequal.
Contrapositive (~𝑞 → ~𝑝): If two angles of a parallelogram are unequal, then they are not opposite angles.
If you need to read or review, kindly access Intro to Truth Tables and Boolean Algebra (2017).
https://medium.com/i-math/intro-to-truth-tables-boolean-algebra-73b331dd9b94 and watch the videoTruth
Table – Discrete Mathematics Logic by Emily Jane.
Reference list
1. Aufmann, R. N., Lookwood, J. S., Nation, R. D., & Clegg, D. K. (2013). Mathematical excursion. Brooks/
Cole.
2. Bautista, E., Cabral, E., Garces, I. J., Garciano, A., Muga, F., & de Lara-Tuprio, E. (2006). Introductory
algebra. Vibal Publishing House, Inc.
3. Berry, B. (2019, October 8). Intro to truth tables & boolean algebra - math hacks. Medium.
https://medium.com/i-math/intro-to-truth-tables-boolean-algebra-73b331dd9b94
4. Cengage Learning. (2018). Mathematics in the modern world. Rex Book Store, Inc.
5. David Lippman, Extended Learning Institute (ELI), Northern Virginia Community College. (n.d.). Truth tables
and analyzing arguments: Examples | mathematics for the liberal Arts. Lumen Learning.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/math4libarts/chapter/truth-tables-and-analyzing-arguments-examples/
6. Rodriguez, M. J., Salvador, I. G., Ragma, F., Torres, E., Manalang, E., Oredina, N., & Ogoy, J. (2018).
Mathematics in the modern world. Nieme Publishing House Co. Ltd.
Supplementary Videos
1. Emily S. (2014, March 26). Truth table tutorial - discrete mathematics logic [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRMC-ttjhwM&t=226s
2. Numberbender. (2019, February 7). Paano gumawa ng truth table mula sa compound statement [Video].
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LUOJqlu81c
3. TheTrevTutor. (2017, July 17). Introduction to propositional logic - discrete mathematics [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itrXYg41-V0&t=274s
4. WOW MATH. (2020, December 2). Mathematics in the modern world [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPPsDIdbG32Auf61Nq_mFwIe7Xel3VfsW