Discrete Mathematics

MH1812
Topic 2.3 - Propositional Logic III
Dr. Gary Greaves

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 Topic Overview

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What’s in store…

A rguments

I nference Rules

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By the end of this lesson, you should be able to…
• Determine whether or not an argument is valid.

• Apply basic inference rules.

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 Arguments

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Arguments: Valid Argument

An argument is a sequence of statements. The last statement

is called the conclusion. All the previous statements are
called premises (or assumptions/hypotheses).

A valid argument is an argument where the

conclusion is true if the premises are all true.

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Arguments: Valid Argument

A valid argument is an argument where the

conclusion is true if the premises are all true.

Example
• “If you pay up in full then I will deliver it”
Premises
• “You pay up in full”

• “I will deliver it” Conclusion

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Arguments: Valid Argument

A valid argument is an argument where the

conclusion is true if the premises are all true.

A series of statements form a valid argument if

and only if “the conjunction of premises implying
the conclusion” is a tautology.

((Premise) ∧ (Premise)) → Conclusion

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Arguments: A Valid Argument Template

p → q;
Premises
p;
 q Conclusion

• By definition, a valid argument satisfies: “If the

premises are true, then the conclusion is true”.

• To check if the above argument is valid, we need to

check that ((p → q) ∧ p) → q is a tautology.

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Arguments: Valid Argument Template

p → q;
Premises
p;
 q Conclusion

• Critical rows are rows p q p→q (p → q) ∧ p ((p → q) ∧ p) → q

with all premises true.
T T T T T
• If in all critical rows the
T F F F T
conclusion is true, then
the argument is valid F T T F T
(otherwise it is invalid). F F T F T

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Arguments: Counterexample

If in all critical rows the conclusion is true, then

the argument is valid (otherwise it is invalid).

A critical row with a false conclusion is a

counterexample.

A counterexample:
• Invalidates the argument (i.e., makes the argument not valid)
• Indicates a situation where the conclusion does not follow
from the premises

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Arguments: Invalid Argument Example
• “If it is falling and it is directly
above me then I’ll run” Premises
• “It is falling”
• “It is not directly above me”

• “I will not run” Conclusion

S = (f ∧ a → r); Premises
f;
￢a;
￢r Conclusion

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Arguments: Invalid Argument Example

S = (f ∧ a → r); Premises
a r f ￢a f ∧ a S ￢r
f; TT T F T T F
￢a;
TT F F F T F
￢r Conclusion
TF T F T F T
TF F F F T T
Counterexample FT T T F T F
Critical rows FT F T F T F
FF T T F T T
FF F T F T T

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Arguments: Fallacy

A fallacy is an error in reasoning that

results in an invalid argument.

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Arguments: Fallacy 1 (Converse Error)

p → q;
Example q;
• If it is Christmas then it is a holiday.  p
• It is a holiday. Therefore, it is Christmas!

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Arguments: Fallacy 2 (Inverse Error)

Example
• If it is raining then I will stay at home.

• It is not raining. Therefore, I will not stay at home!

p → q;
￢ p;
￢ q

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Arguments: Invalid Argument, Correct Conclusion
An argument may be invalid, but it may still draw a correct
conclusion (e.g., by coincidence).

Example
• If New York is a big city then New York has tall buildings.
• New York has tall buildings.
– So, New York is a big city.

So, what happened?

• We have just made an invalid argument,
i.e., converse error!
• But the conclusion is true (a fact true by itself).
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 Inference Rules

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Inference Rules: Definition

A rule of inference is a logical construct which takes

premises, analyses their syntax and returns a conclusion.

We already saw…

p → q; p → q;
p; ￢ q;
 q ￢ p
Modus Ponens Modus Tollens
(Method of Affirming) (Method of Denying)

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Inference Rules: More Inference Rules
Conjunctive p ∧ q; Disjunctive p ∨ q;
Simplification
p
Syllogism ￢ p;
(Particularising) (Case Elimination) q

Conjunctive p;
Addition Rule of ￢ p → C;
q; Contradiction p
(Specialising)
p∧q

Disjunctive p; Alternative
￢ p → F;
Addition Rule of
(Generalisation)
p∨q Contradiction p
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Inference Rules: Dilemma
Dilemma (case by case discussions)

p ∨ q;
p → r;
q → r;
r

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Inference Rules: Hypothetical Syllogism
Hypothetical Syllogism p → q;
q → r;
p→r

Example Alice
• If I do not wake up, then I cannot go to work.

• If I cannot go to work, then I will not get paid.

• Therefore, if I do not wake up, then I will not get paid.

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Inference Rules: Proof Hypothetical Syllogism
(p → q)  (q → r) (Hypotheses; Assumed True)
 (p → q)  ( q  r) (Conversion Theorem)
 [(p → q)   q ]  [(p → q)  r] (Distributive)
 [((p → q)   q )  (p → q)]  [((p → q)   q ) r] (Distributive)
 (p → q)  [((p → q)   q )  r] (Recall absorption law: a ∨ (a ∧ b) ≡ a, hence
[((p → q)   q )  (p → q)]  p → q)
 (p → q)  [(( p  q)   q )  r] (Conversion)
 (p → q)  [(( p   q)  ( q   q) )  r] (Distributive)
 (p → q)  [(( p   q)  F)  r] (Contradiction)
 (p → q)  [( p   q)  r] (Unity)
 (p → q)  [( p  r)  ( q  r)] (Distributive)
 [(p → q)  ( q  r)]  ( p  r) (Commutative; Associative)
 ( p  r)  p → r (Conjunctive Simplification; Conversion)

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 Topic Summary

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Let’s recap…
• Arguments:
– Valid arguments
– Invalid arguments
– Counterexample
– Fallacy

• Inference rules:
– Derive conclusions from a bunch of information
– Some basic inference rules

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