CSE 1101

DISCRETE MATHEMATICS

Week 1
 Introduction

 Logic

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 Logic
 Crucial for mathematical reasoning
 Important for program design
 Used for designing electronic circuitry
 Logic is a system based on propositions.
 A proposition is a (declarative) statement that
is either true or false (not both).
 We say that the truth value of a proposition is
either true (T) or false (F).
 Corresponds to 1 and 0 in digital circuits

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 The Statement/Proposition Game
 “Elephants are bigger than mice.”

Is this a statement? yes

Is this a proposition? yes

What is the truth value

of the proposition? true

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 The Statement/Proposition Game
 “520 < 111”

Is this a statement? yes

Is this a proposition? yes

What is the truth value

of the proposition? false

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 The Statement/Proposition Game
 “y > 5”

Is this a statement? yes

Is this a proposition? no

Its truth value depends on the value of y,

but this value is not specified.
We call this type of statement a
propositional function or open sentence.

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 The Statement/Proposition Game
 “Today is January 27 and 99 < 5.”

Is this a statement? yes

Is this a proposition? yes

What is the truth value

of the proposition? false

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 The Statement/Proposition Game
 “Please do not fall asleep.”

Is this a statement? no
It’s a request.

Is this a proposition? no

Only statements can be propositions.

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 The Statement/Proposition Game
 “If the moon is made of cheese,
 then I will be rich.”

Is this a statement? yes

Is this a proposition? yes

What is the truth value

of the proposition? probably true

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 The Statement/Proposition Game
 “x < y if and only if y > x.”
Is this a statement? yes
Is this a proposition? yes
… because its truth value
does not depend on
specific values of x and y.
What is the truth value
of the proposition? true

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 Combining Propositions

As we have seen in the previous examples,

one or more propositions can be combined to
form a single compound proposition.

We formalize this by denoting propositions

with letters such as p, q, r, s, and introducing
several logical operators or logical
connectives.

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 Logical Operators (Connectives)
We will examine the following logical operators:
 Negation (NOT, )
 Conjunction (AND, )

 Disjunction (OR, )

 Exclusive-or (XOR,  )

 Implication (if – then,  )

 Biconditional (if and only if,  )
Truthtables can be used to show how these
operators can combine propositions to compound
propositions.

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 Negation (NOT)

 Unary Operator, Symbol: 

P  P
true (T) false (F)
false (F) true (T)

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 Conjunction (AND)
 Binary Operator, Symbol: 
P Q P Q
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F F

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 Disjunction (OR)
 Binary Operator, Symbol: 

P Q P Q
T T T
T F T
F T T
F F F

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 Exclusive Or (XOR)
 Binary Operator, Symbol: 

P Q P Q
T T F
T F T
F T T
F F F

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 Implication (if - then)
 Binary Operator, Symbol: 

P Q P Q
T T T
T F F
F T T
F F T

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 Biconditional (if and only if)
 Binary Operator, Symbol: 

P Q P Q
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F T

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 Statements and Operators
 Statements and operators can be combined in any
way to form new statements.

(P)(
P Q P Q
Q)
T T F F F
T F F T T
F T T F T
F F T T T
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 Statements and Operations
 Statements and operators can be combined in any
way to form new statements.

 (P)(
P Q PQ
(PQ) Q)
T T T F F
T F F T T
F T F T T
F F F T T
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 Equivalent Statements
 (P)(Q (PQ) ( P)(
P Q
(PQ) ) Q)

T T F F T
T F T T T
F T T T T
F F T T T
 The statements  (PQ) and ( P)  ( Q) are logically equivalent, since they have the
same truth table, or put it in another way, (PQ)  ( P)  ( Q) is always true.

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 Example
 Ellen reached an island where knight and knaves reside. A
knight always speaks the truth. A knave always speaks lie.
 Ellen meet A and B in two roads intersection. She asked the
way to go to the capital
 A says to her: “The capital is in mountains, or the road on
the right goes to the capital”
 B says to her: The capital is in mountains, and the road on
the right goes to the capital”
 A shouted,” The person is liar”
 B then added, “If the capital is in the mountains, the road to
the right goes to the capital”
 Ellen computed and took the left road. Did she reached the
capital?

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 Example (contd.)
 c : the capital is in the mountains
 r : the road on the right goes to the capital

A: c.or. B:
c r B:c->r
r c .and.r
F F F F T
F T T F T
T F T F F
T T T T T
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 Computation
 Truth Tables for Ellen’s Computation
 A is a Knight and telling the truth

A: c.or. B:
c r B:c->r
r c .and.r
F F F F T
F T T F T
T F T F F
T T T T T
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 Example 2
 Ellen met 3 people C, D, E on the way. A knight always speaks the
truth. A knave always speaks lie. She asked, whether the road went
to the capital and where
 Ellen meet A and B in two roads intersection. She asked the way to
go to the capital and whether the location is bus stop.
 C says to her: “The road goes to the capital and the bus stop is not
here”
 D says to her: “The road does not go to the capital and the bus stop is
here”
 E says to her: “The road does not go to the capital and the bus stop is
not here”
 Ellen asked whether they are knights or knaves, three gave same
answers, “2 of us are knights, 1 is knave”
 Does the road go to the capital? How many were knights? Was the
location near bus stop?

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 Example (contd.)
 g : the road goes to the capital
 b : the bus stop is here

D:~g.and. E:~g.and
g b C: g.and. ~r
b . ~r
F F F F F
F T F F F
T F T T F
T T F F T
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 Example (contd.)
 g : the road goes to the capital
 b : the bus stop is here

D:~g.and. E:~g.and
g b C: g.and. ~r
b . ~r
F F F F T
F T F T F
T F T F F
T T F F F
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 Tautologies and Contradictions
 A tautology is a statement that is always true.
 Examples:
 R (R)
  (PQ)  (P)( Q)
 A contradiction is a statement that is always false.
 Examples:
 R(R)
  ( (P  Q)  ( P)  ( Q))
 The negation of any tautology is a contradiction, and
the negation of any contradiction is a tautology.

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 Equivalence
 Definition: two propositional statements
S1 and S2 are said to be (logically)
equivalent, denoted S1  S2 if
 They have the same truth table, or
 S1  S2 is a tautology

 Equivalence can be established by

 Constructing truth tables
 Using equivalence laws

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 Logical Equivalence
 Equivalence laws
 Identitylaws, P  T  P, P  F  P,
 Domination laws, P  F  F, P  T  T,
 Idempotent laws, P  P  P, P  P  P,
 Double negation law,  ( P)  P
 Commutative laws, P  Q  Q  P, same for 
 Associative laws, P  (Q  R) (P  Q)  R, same for 
 Distributive laws, P  (Q  R) (P  Q)  (P  R),

 distributed over ,  distributed over 

 De Morgan’s laws,  (PQ)  ( P)  ( Q), same for 
 Law with implication P QPQ
 Contrapositive Law P QQ P

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 Summary So Far
Proposition

Truth value
Truth table

Operatorsand their truth tables

Equivalence of propositional statements

 Definition
 Proving equivalence (by truth table or equivalence
laws)

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