Discrete Structures C2023

Propositional Equivalence

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Introduction

• A compound proposition that is always true, no matter what the truth values of the
propositional variables that occur in it, is called a tautology.

• A compound proposition that is always false is called a contradiction.

• A compound proposition that is neither a tautology nor a contradiction is called a

contingency.

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Introduction
• Example 1:

p ∨ ¬p is a tautology.
p ¬p p ∨ ¬p
T F T
F T T
p ∧ ¬p is a contradiction.

P ¬p p ∧ ¬p
T F F
F T F

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Introduction
• Example 1:

p ∨ q is a contingency.
p q p∨q
T T T
T F T
F T T
F F F

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Logical Equivalence

• In particular, the compound propositions p and q are logically equivalent if and

only if the columns giving their truth values agree.

• The compound propositions p and q are called logically equivalent if p ↔ q is a

tautology.
• The notation p ≡ q denotes that p and q are logically equivalent.
• One way to determine whether two compound propositions are equivalent is to
use a truth table.

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Logical Equivalence

• Example 2: Show that ¬(p ∨ q) and ¬p ∧ ¬q are logically equivalent.

p q p∨q ¬(p ∨ q) ¬p ¬q ¬p ∧ ¬q
T T T F F F F
T F T F F T F
F T T F T F F
F F F T T T T

• The truth values of the compound propositions ¬(p ∨ q) and ¬p ∧ ¬q agree for all
possible combinations.
• They are logically equivalent.
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Logical Equivalence

• Example 3: Show that p → q and ¬p ∨ q are logically equivalent.

p q ¬p p∨q ¬p ∨ q p→q
T T F T T T
T F F T F F
F T T T T T
F F T F T T

• The truth values of the compound propositions ¬p ∨ q and p → q agree for all possible
combinations.
• They are logically equivalent.
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Logical Equivalence Laws
Equivalence Name (p ∨ q) ∨ r ≡ p ∨ (q ∨ r)
Associative
p∧T≡p (p ∧ q) ∧ r ≡ p ∧ (q ∧ r)
Identity
p∨F≡p
p ∨ (q ∧ r) ≡ (p ∨ q) ∧ (p ∨ r)
p∨T≡T Distributive
Domination p ∧ (q ∨ r) ≡ (p ∧ q) ∨ (p ∧ r)
p∧F≡F
p∨p≡p ¬(p ∧ q) ≡ ¬p ∨ ¬q
Idempotent De Morgan
p∧p≡p ¬(p ∨ q) ≡ ¬p ∧ ¬q
¬(¬p) ≡ p Double negation p ∨ (p ∧ q) ≡ p
Absorption
p ∧ (p ∨ q) ≡ p
p∨q≡q∨p
Commutative p ∨ ¬p ≡ T
p∧q≡q∧p Negation
p ∧ ¬p ≡ F

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Logical Equivalence

Implications Equivalences
p → q ≡ ¬p ∨ q
p → q ≡ ¬q → ¬p
p ↔ q ≡ (p → q) ∧ (q → p)

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Logical Equivalence

Example 4: Show that ¬(p → q) and p ∧ ¬q are logically equivalent.

Solution:

¬(p → q) ≡ ¬(¬p ∨ q) by the conditional-disjunction equivalence

¬(p → q) ≡ ¬(¬p) ∧ ¬q by the second De Morgan law

¬(p → q) ≡ p ∧ ¬q by the double negation law

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Logical Equivalence

Example 5: Show that ¬(p ∨ (¬p ∧ q)) and ¬p ∧ ¬q are logically equivalent

Solution:
¬(p ∨ (¬p ∧ q)) ≡ ¬p ∧ ¬(¬p ∧ q) by the second De Morgan law
≡ ¬p ∧ [¬(¬p) ∨ ¬q] by the first De Morgan law
≡ ¬p ∧ (p ∨ ¬q) by the double negation law
≡ (¬p ∧ p) ∨ (¬p ∧ ¬q) by the second distributive law
≡ F ∨ (¬p ∧ ¬q) because ¬p ∧ p ≡ F
≡ (¬p ∧ ¬q) ∨ F by the commutative law for disjunction
≡ ¬p ∧ ¬q by the identity law for F

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Logical Equivalence

Example 6: Show that (p ∧ q) → p is a tautology

Solution:
(p ∧ q) → p ≡ ¬(p ∧ q) ∨ p by the conditional-disjunction equivalence

≡ (¬p ∨ ¬q) ∨ p by De Morgan’s law

≡ ¬q ∨ ( ¬p ∨ p) by the associative law

≡ ¬q ∨ T by the negation law

≡ T by the domination law

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Logical Equivalence

Example 7:
Define the proposition p NOR q denoted by p ↓ q to be true when both p and q are
false, and false otherwise.

• Construct a truth table for p ↓ q

• Show that (p ↓ p) is logically equivalent to ¬ p.

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Logical Equivalence

Solution:
• Construct a truth table for p ↓ q

p q p↓q
T T F
T F F
F T F
F F T

(p ↓ p) ≡ ¬(p ∨ p) by definition of ↓
≡ ¬p by idempotent law

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Logical Equivalence

Example 8:
• Show that (p ↓ q) ↓ (p ↓ q) is logically equivalent to p ∨ q.
• Find a compound proposition logically equivalent to p → q using only the logical
operator ↓.

Solution:

(p ↓ q) ↓ (p ↓ q) ≡ ¬ (p ↓ q) proved in the last example

≡ ¬ ¬(p ∨ q) by definition of ↓
≡p∨q by the double negation law

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Logical Equivalence

• Find a compound proposition logically equivalent to p → q using only the logical

operator ↓.

p → q ≡ ¬p ∨ q by the conditional-disjunction equivalence

≡ ¬ ¬(¬p ∨ q) by the double negation law

≡ ¬ ( ¬p ↓ q) by the definition of ↓

≡ ¬ ( p ↓p ↓ q) proved in the last example

≡ ( p ↓p ↓ q) ↓ ( p ↓p ↓ q) proved in the last example

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Satisfiability

• A compound proposition is satisfiable if there is an assignment of truth values to its

variables that makes it true (that is, when it is a tautology or a contingency).

• When no such assignments exists, that is, when the compound proposition is false
for all assignments of truth values to its variables, the compound proposition is
unsatisfiable.
• When we find a particular assignment of truth values that makes a compound
proposition true, we have shown that it is satisfiable; such an assignment is called a
solution of this particular satisfiability problem.

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Satisfiability

Example 9: Determine whether the compound proposition:

p → (p ∨ q) is satisfiable or not.

Solution:
The implication is true when the premise is false, so when p is false, the implication
p →(p ∨ q) is true, so the compound proposition is satisfiable.

We can go further an show that the compound proposition is a tautology. The

implication is only false when the premise is true and the conclusion is false. When p
is true, the conclusion p∨q is also true, so the implication cannot be false. Therefore,
the compound proposition is a tautology.

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Satisfiability

Example 10: Determine whether the compound proposition:

(¬ p → ¬ q) ↔(q → p)) is satisfiable or not.

Solution:
Since ¬ p → ¬ q is the contrapositive of q → p, the compound proposition is
equivalent to (q → p) ↔ (q → p) , which is a tautology because the two parts of the
bi-conditional implication are identical and have the same truth value.

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Normal Forms

• For a variety of reasons (including, for example, computer processing), it is useful

to have standard ways of representing formulas.

• We’ll look at two such normal forms, called conjunctive normal form (CNF) and
disjunctive normal form (DNF).

• “Normal form” means that the formula is formatted according to a certain rule or
“norm.”

• Before we proceed to the forms, let’s define a literal as either a propositional

variable (such as p) or the negation of a single variable (such as ¬p).

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Disjunctive Normal Form (DNF)

• A proposition is in disjunctive normal form (DNF) if it is the disjunction of one or

more clauses, where each clause is the conjunction of one or more literals.

( □ ∧ □ ∧ … ∧ □ ) ∨ ( □ ∧ □ ∧ … ∧ □) ∨ … ∨ (□ ∧ □ ∧ … ∧ □ )

• Each □ is a literal.
• It’s an ORs of ANDs

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Disjunctive Normal Form (DNF)

Example 11:
• The proposition (p ∧ q) ∨ (¬p ∧ ¬q) is in the disjunctive normal form.
• While proposition (¬p ∧ (q ∨ r) ) ∨ (p ∧ ¬q) is not in the conjunctive normal form.

Example 12:
• Give a proposition in disjunctive normal form equivalent to (¬p ∧ q) → ¬p
Solution:
(¬p ∧ q ) → ¬p ≡ ¬( ¬p ∧ q ) ∨ ¬p by the conditional-disjunction equivalence
≡ (¬ ¬ p ∨ ¬ q) ∨ ¬ p by De Morgan’s law
≡ ( p ∨ ¬ q) ∨ ¬ p by the double negation law
≡ p∨¬q∨¬p by the associative law
The proposition p ∨ ¬ q ∨ ¬ p is in DNF.

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Disjunctive Normal Form (DNF)

Example:
Convert p → (q ∧ r) to DNF.

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Disjunctive Normal Form (DNF)

Solution: p q r q∧r p → (q ∧ r)
• We first start by constructing a truth table T T T T T p∧q∧r
for the compound proposition. T T F F F
• We then identify the rows wherein the T F T F F
compound proposition is true. T F F F F
• We conjunct the propositional variables F T T T T ¬p ∧ q ∧ r
in each true row. F T F F T ¬p ∧ q ∧ ¬r
• We disjunct all the conjuncts we formed F F T F T ¬p ∧ ¬q ∧ r

in the previous step to form a DNF. F F F F T ¬p ∧ ¬q ∧ ¬r

(p ∧ q ∧ r) ∨ (¬p ∧ q ∧ r) ∨ (¬p ∧ q ∧ ¬r) ∨ (¬p ∧ ¬q ∧ r) ∨ (¬p ∧ ¬q ∧ ¬r)

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Conjunctive Normal Form (CNF)

• A proposition is in conjunctive normal form (CNF) if it is the conjunction of one or

more clauses, where each clause is the disjunction of one or more literals.

( □ ∨ □ ∨ … ∨ □ ) ∧ (□ ∨ □ ∨ … ∨ □ ) ∧ … ∧ (□∨□ ∨ …∨□)

• Each □ is a literal.
• It’s an ANDs of ORs!

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Conjunctive Normal Form (CNF)

Example:
Give a proposition in conjunctive normal form that is logically equivalent to
p↔q

Solution:
p ↔ q ≡ (p → q) ∧ (q → p)
≡ (¬p ∨ q) ∧ (¬q ∨ p)

The proposition (￢p ∨ q) ∧ (￢q ∨ p) is in CNF.

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Conjunctive Normal Form (CNF)

Generally, we find a Conjunctive Normal Form of a proposition φ in the following the

steps:
1. Find the negation of φ.
2. Construct an equivalent ¬φ𝐷𝑁𝐹 proposition of ¬ φ.
3. Find the negation of ¬φ𝐷𝑁𝐹 , which is a CNF.

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Conjunctive Normal Form (CNF)

Example:

Let φ be the proposition p ⇔ q.

¬ φ ≡ ¬ (p ⇔ q) p q ¬ (p ⇔ q) ¬ (p ⇔ q)
T T T F
The truth tables of ¬ (p ⇔ q) is: T F F T
F T F T
The assignments that make ¬ (p ⇔ q) true:
p ∧ ¬ q and ¬ p ∧ q. F F T F
¬φ𝐷𝑁𝐹 is (p ∧ ¬ q) ∨ (¬ p ∧ q)
¬φ𝐷𝑁𝐹 is ¬¬φ𝐷𝑁𝐹 , which is :

¬ [(p ∧ ¬ q) ∨ (¬ p ∧ q)] ≡ (¬ p ∨ q) ∧ (p ∨ ¬q)

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 End

University of Khartoum | Faculty of Mathematical Sciences and Informatics | C2023