Discrete Mathematics

(CSC 0611101)

Chapter 1
1.1 Propositional Logic

Md. Morshed Ali

Lecturer
Uttara University
1
 Key Terms
 Proposition: A proposition is a declarative statement
that’s either TRUE or FALSE, but not both.

• Statements that are not propositions include

– questions
– commands

2
 Reasoning is the

Key Terms process of using

existing knowledge
to draw conclusions

 Logic: Logic is the discipline that deals with the

methods of reasoning.
– Logic is the basis of all mathematical reasoning
– The rules of logic specify the meaning of
mathematical statements

 Propositional Logic: The area of logic that deals with

propositions is called the propositional logic.

3
 Key Terms
 Propositional variable: A variable that represents a
proposition. The conventional letters used for propositional
variables are p, q, r, s, t,..
 Compound proposition: A proposition constructed by
combining two or more propositions using logical
operators(AKA : logical connectives)
 Logical Operators: Operators used to combine propositions
 Truth Value: The truth value of a proposition is true, denoted
by T, if it is a true statement and false, denoted by F, if it is a
false statement. Truth Value ==> True/False
 Truth Table: A table displaying the truth values of
propositions.
4
 Proposition: Examples

Proposition Not Proposition

3 + 2 = 32 Bring me coffee!

3+2=5 3+2

Every cow has four legs Do you like Cake?

5
 Proposition: More Examples
 Which of the following are propositions? What are the truth values of
those that are propositions?
a. Read this carefully.
b. 2 + 2 = 4.
c. Comilla is the capital of Bangladesh.
d. What time is it?

6
 Solution
Solution.
a. Not a proposition.
b. A proposition with truth value (T).
c. A proposition with truth value (F).
d. Not a proposition.

7
 Proposition: More Examples
• Which of the following are propositions? What are
the truth values of those that are propositions?
a) 5 + 7 = 17
b) Answer the question
c) x + 2 = 13
d) x + y = z
e) UU is the best Private university in Bangladesh

8
 Logical operators
• Logical operators ==> unary, binary
• Unary:
– Negation
• Binary
– Conjunction
– Disjunction
– Exclusive OR
– Implication
– Biconditional

9
 Logical Operators
Operator Symbol Usage
Negation  NOT
Conjunction  AND
Disjunction  OR
Exclusive or  XOR
Conditional  if, then
Biconditional  iff

10
 Propositional Logic -
Negation
• Let p be a proposition. The negation of p, denoted by
p (or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.

11
 Propositional Logic -
Negation
• Negation just turns a false proposition to true and the
opposite for a true proposition.

• Example1: P: I am going to town

 P: I am not going to town; or,
It is not the case that I am going to town
• Example2: p ： “ 23 = 15 +7”
p happens to be false, so  p is true.

12
Truth table for Negation

13
 Negation: More Example
• Example: Find the negation of the proposition
“Today is Friday.”

• Solution: The negation is

“It is not the case that today is Friday”, or
“Today is not Friday” , or
“It is not Friday today.”

14
 Conjunction
• Let 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.
• Conjunction corresponds to English “and.”

• Example: Liana is curious AND clever.

15
Truth Table for Conjunction

16
 Conjunction: Example
• Example: P:‘I am going to town’
Q: ‘It is going to rain’

P  Q: ‘I am going to town and it is going to rain.’

Note: Both P and Q must be true!!!!!

17
 Conjunction: Example
p = “Clinton was the president.”
q = “Monica was the president.”
r = “The meaning of is important.”
• Assuming p and r are true, while q false.
Out of pq, pr, qr , only p  r is true.
Q: what is the value of pqr?

18
 Conjunction
• Conjunction is a binary operator in that it
operates on two propositions when creating
compound proposition. On the other hand,
negation is a unary operator.

19
 Disjunction
• 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.
• Disjunction is true when at least one of the
components is true.
• Disjunction corresponds to English “or.”
– Ex. Michael is brave OR intelligent

20
Truth Table for Disjunction

21
Examples of Conjunction & Disjunction
Let,
p:5<9
q : 9 < 7.
Construct the propositions pq and p ν q.

Solution:
 The conjunction of the propositions p and q is the proposition
pq : 5 < 9 and 9 < 7
 The disjunction of the propositions p and q is the proposition
p v q : 5 < 9 or 9 < 7

 Q: What are the truth values of p  q and p v q?

22
 Example 5 & 6(Page 4 & 5): Examples of
Conjunction & Disjunction
Consider the following propositions:
p : It is Friday
q : It is raining.
Construct the propositions p ^ q and p ν q.

Solution:
The conjunction of the propositions p and q is the proposition
p  q : It is Friday and it is raining.
The disjunction of the propositions p and q is the proposition
p v q : It is Friday or It is raining.

23
 Exclusive Or
• 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.

24
Truth Table of Exclusive Or

25
 Example of Exclusive Or
• Construct a truth table for (p  q)  r.
Solution:

26
 Conditional Statements
• Let 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 hypothesis and
q is called conclusion.
• This one is the English usage of “if, then” or “implies”.
• The connective  is called the ‘conditional connective’.
• A conditional statement is also called an implication.

27
Truth Table for Conditional Statement

28
 Conditional Statements
• In terms of words, the proposition p  q
also reads:
(a) if p, then q
(b) p implies q
(c) p is a sufficient condition for q
(d) q is a necessary condition for p
(e) p only if q

29
 Example1 of Conditional Statement
p = “Cruise ships only go on big rivers.”
q = “Cruise ships go on the Hudson.”
r = “The Hudson is a big river.”
 r = “The Hudson is not a big river.”

• p  q = “Cruise ships only go on big rivers and go on the

Hudson.”

• （ p  q) r = “If cruise ships only go on big rivers and go on

the Hudson, then the Hudson is a big river.”

30
 Example2 of Conditional Statement
• Let p : "Maria learns discrete mathematics" and
q : "Maria will find a good job."
Express the statement p  q as a statement in English.
Solution:
"If Maria learns discrete mathematics, then she will find a good job.“
• There are many other ways to express this conditional statement in
English.
– "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.”

31
 Converse, Contrapositive, and Inverse
 We can form some new conditional statements starting with
a conditional statement p  q

• The proposition q  p is called the Converse of p  q

• The Contrapositive of p  q is the proposition  q   p
• The proposition  p   q is called the Inverse of p  q
• Two compound propositions are equivalent if they always
have the same truth value

32
 Examples of Converse, Contrapositive and Inverse

 Converses: p  q ==> q  p
• Ex: “If it is noon, then I am hungry.”
“If I am hungry, then it is noon.”
 Contrapositives: p  q ==> q  p
• Ex: “If it is noon, then I am hungry.”
“If I am not hungry, then it is not noon.”
 Inverses: p  q ==> p  q
• Ex: “If it is noon, then I am hungry.”
“If it is not noon, then I am not hungry.”

33
 Bi-Conditional
• Let p and q be propositions.
• The biconditional statement p  q is the proposition “p if and
only if q.”
• The biconditional statement p  q is true when p and q
have the same truth values, and is false otherwise.
• Biconditional statements are also called “bi-implications”
• Question : Which operator is the opposite of ?
• Answer:  has exactly the opposite truth table as .

34
 Truth Table for Biconditional p  q

Note that p ↔ q has exactly the same truth value as (p → q) ∧ (q → p).

35
 Example
• Show that the bi-conditional proposition of p and q is
logically equivalent to the conjunction of the conditional
propositions p  q and q  p:
• Solution

36
 Example of Biconditional statement
• Example 10 ( Page 9): Let p be the statement “ You
can take the flight” and q be the statement “ You buy
a ticket”.
What is the statement for p  q ?

 Solution:
“You can take the flight if and only if you buy a ticket”

37
 Truth Tables of Compound Propositions

• We can use logical connectives/operators to build up

complicated compound propositions involving any
number of propositional variables.
• We can use truth tables to determine the truth
values of these compound propositions.

• Example 11 (p. 10): Construct the truth table of the

compound proposition (p v q)  (p  q)

38
Truth Tables of Compound Propositions

39
A Demonstration That p ∨ (q ∧ r) and (p ∨ q) ∧ (p ∨
r) Are Logically Equivalent.

40
 Precedence of Logical Operators
• Negation operator is applied before all other logical
operators
• Conjunction operator takes precedence over
disjunction operator
• Conditional and biconditional operators have lower
precedence
• Parentheses are used whenever necessary

41
Precedence of Logical Operators

42
 Logic and Bit Operations
• bit ==> binary digit
• Boolean variable: either true or false
– Can be represented by a bit
• Bit String: A bit string is a sequence of zero or more
bits. The length of the string is the number of bits in
the string.
• Example 20(p.15): 101010011 is a bit string of length
nine

43
 Bit operations
• Computer bit operations correspond to the logical
connectives. By replacing true by a one and false by
a zero in the truth tables for the operators ∧, ∨, and
⊕, the tables shown in Table 9 for the corresponding
bit operations are obtained. We will also use the
notation OR, AND, and XOR for the operators ∨,∧,
and ⊕ respectively, as is done in various
programming languages.

44
Table for Bit Operations

45
Bit string and bit operation

46