MAT103

Discrete
Mathematics
Mary Ann Ritzell P. Vega, Ph.D.
Department of Mathematics and Statistics

CSM, MSU-IIT
 Goals of Discrete Mathematics as a Course
Discrete mathematics provides the mathematical foundations for
many computer science and engineering courses including data
structures, algorithms, database theory, automata theory, formal
languages, compiler theory, computer security, and operating
systems
❖Five important themes for discussion:

1. mathematical reasoning
Students must understand mathematical reasoning in order to read,
comprehend, and construct mathematical arguments;
Goals of Discrete Mathematics as a Course
2. combinatorial analysis
Students should acquire the problem-solving skill of counting or enumerating objects

3. discrete structures
Students should learn how to work with discrete structures, the abstract
mathematical structures used to represent discrete objects and relationships between
these objects. These discrete structures include sets, permutations, relations, graphs
and trees .

4. algorithmic thinking

5. applications and modeling.

SYMBOLIC LOGIC and PROOFS
Propositions
A proposition is a declarative sentence (that is, a sentence
that declares a fact) that is either true or false, but not
both.
EXAMPLE 1 All the following declarative sentences are propositions.
1. Manila is the capital city of the Philippines.
2. Rodrigo Duterte is a senator of the Philippines.
3. 1 + 1 = 2.
4. 2 + 2 < 3.
Propositions 1 and 3 are true, whereas 2 and 4 are false.
Non propositions

EXAMPLE 2 Consider the following sentences.

1. What time is it?
2. Read this carefully.
3. x + 1 = 2.
4. x + y = z.
Propositions
letters - denote propositional variables (or statement variables), that is,
variables that represent propositions, just as letters are used to denote
numerical variables. The conventional letters used for propositional
variables are p, q, r, s, . . The truth value of a proposition is true,
denoted by T, if it is a true proposition, and the truth value of a
proposition is false, denoted by F, if it is a false proposition.
The area of logic that deals with propositions is called the
propositional calculus or propositional logic. It was first developed
systematically by the Greek philosopher Aristotle more than 2300
years ago.
From one or more logical statements, we can form a
compound statement or compound proposition by
joining them with logical operators, which are also called
logical connectives because they are used to connect
logical statements.
Obviously, negation is a unary operation. Since a
compound statement is itself a statement, it is either true
or false. Therefore, we define a logical operation by
describing the truth value of the resulting compound
statement.
Compound Propositions
Many mathematical statements are constructed by combining one or more
propositions. New propositions, called compound propositions, are formed
from existing propositions using logical operators.
DEFINITION 1 Let p be a proposition. The negation of p, denoted by ¬p, is
the statement “It is not the case that p.”
The proposition ¬p is read “not p.” The truth value of the negation of p, ¬p,
is the opposite of the truth value of p.
Compound Propositions: Negation
EXAMPLE 3 Find the negation of the proposition “Michael’s PC runs
Linux” and express this in simple English.
Answer: The negation is “It is not the case that Michael’s PC runs
Linux.”
This negation can be more simply expressed as “Michael’s PC does not
run Linux.”
Compound Propositions: Negation
EXAMPLE 4 Find the negation of the proposition “Vandana’s
smartphone has at least 32GB of memory” and express this in simple
English.
Answer: The negation is “It is not the case that Vandana’s smartphone
has at least 32GB of memory.”
This negation can also be expressed as “Vandana’s smartphone does not
have at least 32GB of memory”
or even more simply as “Vandana’s smartphone has less than 32GB of
memory.”
Compound Propositions: Conjunction
DEFINITION 2Let p and q be propositions. The conjunction of p
and q, denoted by p ∧ q, is the proposition “p and q.”
The conjunction p ∧ q is true when both p and q are true and is
false otherwise.
Note that in logic the word “but” sometimes is used instead of “and” in a
conjunction. For example, the statement “The sun is shining, but it is
raining” is another way of saying “The sun is shining and it is raining.”
 Compound Propositions: Conjunction
EXAMPLE 5 Find the conjunction of the propositions p and q where p is the
proposition “Rebecca’s PC has more than 16 GB free hard disk space” and q is the
proposition “The processor in Rebecca’s PC runs faster than 1 GHz.”
Answer: The conjunction of these propositions, p ∧ q, is the proposition
“Rebecca’s PC has more than 16 GB free hard disk space, and the processor
in Rebecca’s PC runs faster than 1 GHz.”
This conjunction can be expressed more simply as “Rebecca’s PC has more
than 16 GB free hard disk space, and its processor runs faster than 1 GHz.”
For this conjunction to be true, both conditions given must be true. It is
false, when one or both of these conditions are false.
Compound Propositions: Disjunction
DEFINITION 3 Let p and q be propositions. The disjunction of p
and q, denoted by p ∨ q, is the proposition “p or q.” The
disjunction p ∨ q is false when both p and q are false and is true
otherwise.
DEFINITION 4 Let p and q be propositions. The exclusive or of p
and q, denoted by p ⊕ q, is the proposition that is true when
exactly one of p and q is true and is false otherwise.
The use of the connective or in a disjunction corresponds to one of the two ways
the word or is used in English, namely, as an inclusive or.
A disjunction is true when at least one of the two propositions is true. For
instance, the inclusive or is being used in the statement
“Students who have taken calculus or computer science can take this class.”
Here, we mean that students who have taken both calculus and computer science
can take the class, as well as the students who have taken only one of the two
subjects.
On the other hand, we are using the exclusive or when we say
“Students who have taken calculus or computer science, but not both, can enroll
in this class.”
Here, we mean that students who have taken both calculus and a computer
science course cannot take the class. Only those who have taken exactly one of the
two courses can take the class.
Similarly, when a menu at a restaurant states, “Soup or salad comes with an entrée,”
the restaurant almost always means that customers can have either soup or salad, but
not both. Hence, this is an exclusive, rather than an inclusive, or.
 Compound Propositions: Disjunction
EXAMPLE 6 Find the disjunction of the propositions p and q where p is the proposition “Rebecca’s PC
has more than 16 GB free hard disk space” and q is the proposition “The processor in Rebecca’s PC runs
faster than 1 GHz.”

Answer: Thedisjunction of p and q, p ∨ q, is the proposition “Rebecca’s PC

has at least 16 GB free hard disk space, or the processor in Rebecca’s PC
runs faster than 1 GHz.”
This proposition is true when Rebecca’s PC has at least 16 GB free hard
disk space, when the PC’s processor runs faster than 1 GHz, and when
both conditions are true. It is false when both of these conditions are false,
that is, when Rebecca’s PC has less than 16 GB free hard disk space and
the processor in her PC runs at 1 GHz or slower.
Table of Truth Values

p q p∧q p∨q p⊕q

T T T T F
T F F T T
F T F T T
F F F F F
Conditional Statements
DEFINITION 5Let p and q be propositions. The conditional
statement p → q is the proposition “if p, then q.”
The conditional statement p → q is false when p is true and q is
false, and true otherwise.
In the conditional statement p → q, p is called the hypothesis (or
antecedent or premise) and q is called the conclusion (or
consequence).
 Conditional Statement
The statement p → q is called a conditional statement because p → q asserts that
q is true whenever p is true.
A conditional statement is also called an implication.
The statement p → q is true when both p and q are true and when p is false (no matter
what truth value q has).
Because conditional statements play such an essential role in mathematical reasoning, a
variety of terminology is used to express p → q. You will encounter most if not all of the
following ways to express this conditional statement:

“if p, then q” , “p implies q” , “if p, q” , “p only if q” , “p is sufficient for q” ,

“q if p”, “a sufficient condition for q is p” , “q whenever p” , “q when p” ,
“q is necessary for p” , “a necessary condition for p is q” , “q follows from p” ,
“q unless ¬p”
Conditional Statement
EXAMPLE 7 Letp be the statement “Maria learns discrete mathematics” and q the
statement “Maria will find a good job.” Express the statement p → q as a statement
in English.
Answers: “If Maria learns discrete mathematics, then she will find a good job.”
“Maria will find a good job when she learns discrete mathematics.”
“For Maria to get a good job, it is sufficient for her to learn discrete mathematics.”
“Maria will find a good job unless she does not learn discrete mathematics.”
Truth Table:
p q p → q

T T T
T F F
F T T
F F T
Conditional Statement
The mathematical concept of a conditional statement is
independent of a cause-and effect relationship between hypothesis
and conclusion.
Example 8. The conditional statements
“If Juan has a smartphone, then 2 + 3 = 5” is always true;
“If Juan has a smartphone, then 2 + 3 = 6” is true if Juan does not have a
smartphone, even though 2 + 3 = 6 is false.
Our definition of a conditional statement specifies its truth values; it is not
based on English usage.
 Conditional Statement
The if-then construction used in many programming languages is different from that
used in logic. Most programming languages contain statements such as
if p then S, where p is a proposition and S is a program segment (one or more
statements to be executed).When execution of a program encounters such a
statement, S is executed if p is true, but S is not executed if p is false.
EXAMPLE 9 What is the value of the variable x after the statement if 2 + 2 = 4 then x := x + 1
if x = 0 before this statement is encountered? (The symbol := stands for assignment. The
statement x := x + 1 means the assignment of the value of x + 1 to x.)

Answer: Because 2 + 2 = 4 is true, the assignment statement x := x + 1 is executed.

Hence, x has the value 0 + 1 = 1 after this statement is encountered.