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Discrete Structures

Lecture No. 3

Spring 2021

Course Instructor: Amna Irum

National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Islamabad

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HIERARCHY OF OPERATIONS
FOR LOGICAL CONNECTIVES
 
• ~ (negation)
  (conjunction),  (disjunction)
  (conditional)
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Construct a truth table for the statement form p  ~ q  ~ p

p q ~q ~p p  ~q p~q~p

T T F F T F

T F T F T F

F T F T F T

F F T T T T
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LOGICAL EQUIVALENCE INVOLVING
IMPLICATION
 
• Use truth table to show pq  ~q  ~p

p q ~q ~p pq ~q  ~p

T T F F T T
T F T F F F
F T F T T T
F F T T T T
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IMPLICATION LAW
 NEGATION OF A CONDITIONAL 6

STATEMENT

• Since pq  ~pq therefore

• ~ (p  q)  ~ (~ p  q)
•  ~ (~ p)  (~ q) by De Morgan’s law
•  p~q by the Double Negative law 

• Thus the negation of “if p then q” is logically

equivalent to “p and not q”.
• Accordingly, the negation of an if-then statement
does not start with the word if.
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EXAMPLES

•  Write negations of each of the following

statements:
• 1. If Ali lives in Pakistan then he lives in Lahore.
• 2. If my car is in the repair shop, then I cannot get
to class.
• 3. If x is prime then x is odd or x is 2.
• 4. If n is divisible by 6, then n is divisible by 2
and n is divisible by 3.
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• 1. Ali lives in Pakistan and he does not live in

Lahore.
• 2. My car is in the repair shop and I can get to
class.
• 3. x is prime but x is not odd and x is not 2.
• 4. n is divisible by 6 but n is not divisible by 2 or
by 3.
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INVERSE OF A CONDITIONAL STATEMENT
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WRITING INVERSE
:
• 1. If today is Friday, then 2 + 3 = 5.
• If today is not Friday, then 2 + 3  5.
• 2. If it snows today, I will ski tomorrow.
• If it does not snow today I will not ski tomorrow.
• 3. If P is a square, then P is a rectangle.
• If P is not a square then P is not a rectangle.
• 4. If my car is in the repair shop, then I cannot get to
class.
• If my car is not in the repair shop, then I shall get
to the class.
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CONVERSE OF A CONDITIONAL
STATEMENT
 
• The converse of the conditional statement p  q
:
is q p
• A conditional and its converse are not equivalent.
i.e.,  is not a commutative operator.
p q pq qp

T T T T

T F F T

F T T F

F F T T
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WRITING CONVERSE
:
• 1.If today is Friday, then 2 + 3 = 5.
• If 2 + 3 = 5, then today is Friday.
• 2.If it snows today, I will ski tomorrow.
• I will ski tomorrow only if it snows today.
• 3. If P is a square, then P is a rectangle.
• If P is a rectangle then P is a square.
• 4. If my car is in the repair shop, then I cannot
get to class.
• If I cannot get to the class, then my car is in
the repair shop.
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CONTRAPOSITIVE OF A CONDITIONAL
STATEMENT
•  
The contrapositive of the conditional statement p  q is~ q  ~ p
• :
A conditional and its contrapositive are equivalent.

• Symbolically pq  ~q  ~p
• 1. If today is Friday, then 2 + 3 = 5.
• If 2 + 3  5, then today is not Friday.
• 2. If it snows today, I will ski tomorrow.
• I will not ski tomorrow only if it does not snow today.
• 3. If P is a square, then P is a rectangle.
• If P is not a rectangle then P is not a square.
• 4. If my car is in the repair shop, then I cannot get to class.
• If I get to the class, then my car is not in the repair shop.
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Biconditional

• If p and q are statement variables, the

biconditional of p and q is “p if, and only if, q”
and is denoted pq.

• if and only if abbreviated iff.

• The double headed arrow " " is the

biconditional operator.
 TRUTH TABLE FOR 15

pq.

p q p q
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F T
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EXAMPLES

• True or false?
• 1. “1+1 = 3 if and only if earth is flat”
TRUE
• 2. “Sky is blue iff 1 = 0”
FALSE
• 3. “Milk is white iff birds lay eggs”
TRUE
• 4. “33 is divisible by 4 if and only if horse has four legs”
FALSE
• 5. “x > 5 iff x2 > 25”
FALSE

 
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pq  (pq)(qp)

p q pq pq qp (pq)(qp)

T T T T T T
T F F F T F
F T F T F F
F F T T T T
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REPHRASING BICONDITIONAL

• pq is also expressed as:

– “p is necessary and sufficient for q”
– “if p then q, and conversely”
– “p is equivalent to q”
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Exercise
• Rephrase the following propositions in the form “p if and only if q” in English.
• 1. If it is hot outside you buy an ice cream cone, and if you buy an ice cream
• cone it is hot outside.
• Sol You buy an ice cream cone if and only if it is hot outside.
• 2. For you to win the contest it is necessary and sufficient that you have the
• only winning ticket.
• Sol You win the contest if and only if you hold the only winning ticket.
• 3. If you read the news paper every day, you will be informed and conversely.
• Sol You will be informed if and only if you read the news paper every day.
• 4.It rains if it is a weekend day, and it is a weekend day if it rains.
• Sol It rains if and only if it is a weekend day.
• 5. The train runs late on exactly those days when I take it.
• Sol The train runs late if and only if it is a day I take the train.
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(pq)  (~ q ~ p)
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(pq)(rq)
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LOGICAL EQUIVALENCE INVOLVING
BICONDITIONAL
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LAWS OF LOGIC
• 1. Commutative Law: p  :q  q  p

• 2. Implication Laws:
p q  ~p  q ~(p  ~q)

• 3. Exportation Law:
(p  q)r  p (q r)
• 4. Equivalence:
p  q  (p q)(q p)
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• Rewrite the statement forms without using the

symbols  or 

• 1. p~qr
 (p~q)r order of operations
~(p~q)  r implication law
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• 2. (pr)(q r)

 (~p  r)(~q  r) implication law

 [(~p  r) (~q  r)]  [(~q  r) (~p  r)]

equivalence of biconditional

 [~(~p  r)  (~q  r)]  [~(~q  r)  (~p  r)

implication law
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Argument

• An interesting teacher keeps me awake. I stay

awake in Discrete Mathematics class. Therefore,
my Discrete Mathematics teacher is interesting.

• Is the above argument valid?

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Argument

• An argument is a list of statements called premises

(or assumptions or
• hypotheses) followed by a statement called the
conclusion.
• P1 Premise
• P2 Premise
• P3 Premise
• . . . . .. . . . .
• Pn Premise
• _____________
 C Conclusion
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Valid and Invalid Arguments

• An argument is valid if the conclusion is true

when all the premises are true.
• Alternatively, an argument is valid if conjunction
of its premises imply conclusion. That is (P1 P2
 P3  . . .  Pn)  C is a tautology.
• An argument is invalid if the conclusion is false
when all the premises are true.
• Alternatively, an argument is invalid if
conjunction of its premises does not imply
conclusion.
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Example
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Example
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Word Problem

• If Tariq is not in team A, then Hameed is in team

B.
• If Hameed is not in team B, then Tariq is in team
A.
Therefore

Tariq is not in team A or Hameed is not

in team B.
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Solution

Let
• t = Tariq is in team A
• h = Hameed is in team B
• Then the argument is
~th
~ht
~t~h
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Solution (continued)
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Syllogism

• An argument form consisting of two premises and

a conclusion is called a syllogism.

• The first and second premises are called the major

premise and minor premise, respectively.
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Modus Ponens
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Modus Tollens

• Another valid argument form called modus tollens.

• An intuitive explanation for the validity of modus
tollens uses proof by contradiction.
• It has the following form:
– If p then q.
– ∼q
– ∴∼p
• Example
• If the watch-dog detects an intruder, the dog will
bark. The dog did not bark. Therefore, no intruder
was detected by the watch-dog.
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Additional Valid Argument Forms: Rules of
Inference
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Solution
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• Example: A More Complex Deduction

• You are about to leave for school in the morning and
discover that you don’t have your glasses. You know
the following statements are true:
– If I was reading the newspaper in the kitchen, then my glasses are
on the kitchen table.
– If my glasses are on the kitchen table, then I saw them at
breakfast.
– I did not see my glasses at breakfast.
– I was reading the newspaper in the living room or I was reading
the newspaper in the kitchen.
– If I was reading the newspaper in the living room then my glasses
are on the coffee table.
– Where are the glasses?
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Fallacies

• A fallacy is an error in reasoning that results in an

invalid argument.
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• The logician Raymond Smullyan describes an

island containing two types of people: knights
who always tell the truth and knaves who always
lie. You visit the island and are approached by two
natives who speak to you as follows:
• A says: B is a knight.
• B says: A and I are of opposite type.
• What are A and B?
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• A and B are both knaves. Suppose A is a knight.

• ∴ What A says is true.
• ∴ B is also a knight.
• ∴ What B says is true.
• ∴ A and B are of opposite types.
• ∴ We have arrived at the following contradiction: A and
B are both knights and A and B are of opposite type.
• ∴ The supposition is false. by the contradiction rule
• ∴ A is not a knight. ∴ A is a knave.
• ∴ What A says is false. ∴ B is not a knight.
∴ B is also a knave.
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• Five friends have access to a chat room. Is it

possible to determine who is chatting if the
following information is known?
• Either Kevin or Heather, or both, are chatting.
• Either Randy or Vijay, but not both, are
chatting.
• If Abby is chatting, so is Randy.
• Vijay and Kevin are either both chatting or
neither is.
• If Heather is chatting, then so are Abby and
Kevin. Explain your reasoning.