Proposition,

Proposition
Equivalences
Discrete Structures
MUHAMMAD UMAR NASIR
LECTURER
FACULTY OF COMPUTING, RIPHAH INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY LAHORE
 Logic 2
• Crucial for mathematical reasoning

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Spring
• Important for program design
• Used for designing electronic circuitry

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

• (Propositional )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
 The Statement/Proposition 3
Game
 “Elephants are bigger than mice.”

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Spring
CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures
Is this a statement? yes

Is this a proposition? yes

What is the truth

value true
of the proposition?
 The Statement/Proposition 4
Game
 “520 < 111”

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Spring
CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures
Is this a statement? yes

Is this a proposition? yes

What is the truth

value fals
of the proposition? e
 The Statement/Proposition 5
Game
 “y > 5”

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Spring
CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures
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.
 The Statement/Proposition 6
Game
 “Today is January 27 and 99 < 5.”

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Spring
CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures
Is this a statement? yes

Is this a proposition? yes

What is the truth

value fals
of the proposition? e
 The Statement/Proposition 7
Game
 “Please do not fall asleep.”

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Spring
CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures
Is this a statement? no
It’s a request.

Is this a proposition? no

Only statements can be propositions.

 The Statement/Proposition 8
Game
 “If the moon is made of cheese,

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 then I will be rich.”

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

Is this a statement? yes

Is this a proposition? yes

What is the truth

value probably true
of the proposition?
 The Statement/Proposition 9
Game
 “x < y if and only if y > x.”

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Spring
Is this a statement? yes

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

Is this a proposition? yes
… because its truth value
does not depend on
specific values of x and
y.
What is the truth
value true
of the proposition?
 Combining Propositions 10

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As we have seen in the previous examples,
one or more propositions can be combined

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

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.
 Logical Operators 11
(Connectives)

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We will examine the following logical operators:
• Negation (NOT, )

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

• 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.
Negation (NOT) 12

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Unary Operator, Symbol: 

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

P P
true (T) false (F)
false (F) true (T)
Conjunction (AND) 13

Binary Operator, Symbol: 

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CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures
P Q P Q
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F F
Disjunction (OR) 14

Binary Operator, Symbol: 

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CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures
P Q PQ
T T T
T F T
F T T
F F F
Exclusive Or (XOR) 15

Binary Operator, Symbol: 

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CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures
P Q PQ
T T F
T F T
F T T
F F F
Implication (if - then) 16

Binary Operator, Symbol: 

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CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures
P Q PQ
T T T
T F F
F T T
F F T
Biconditional (if and only if) 17

Binary Operator, Symbol: 

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CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures
P Q PQ
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F T
Statements and Operators 18
 Statements and operators can be combined

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in any way to form new statements.

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

P Q P Q (P)(Q)
T T F F F
T F F T T
F T T F T
F F T T T
Statements and Operations 19
 Statements and operators can be combined in

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any way to form new statements.

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

P Q PQ (PQ) (P)(Q)
T T T F F
T F F T T
F T F T T
F F F T T
 Exercises 20
• To take discrete mathematics, you must have taken calculus
or a course in computer science.

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Spring
• When you buy a new car from Acme Motor Company, you

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

get $2000 back in cash or a 2% car loan.
• School is closed if more than 2 feet of snow falls or if the
wind chill is below -100.
 Exercises 21
• To take discrete mathematics, you must

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have taken calculus or a course in
computer science.

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

 P: take discrete mathematics

 Q: take calculus
 R: take a course in computer science
• PQR
• Problem with proposition R
 What if I want to represent “take CMSC201”?
 Exercises 22
• When you buy a new car from Acme Motor

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Company, you get $2000 back in cash or a
2% car loan.

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

 P: buy a car from Acme Motor Company
 Q: get $2000 cash back
 R: get a 2% car loan
• PQR
• Why use XOR here? – example of ambiguity of natural
languages
 Exercises 23
• School is closed if more than 2 feet of

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Spring
snow falls or if the wind chill is below -100.

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

 P: School is closed
 Q: 2 feet of snow falls
 R: wind chill is below -100
• QRP
• Precedence among operators:

, , , , 
 Equivalent Statements 24

P Q (PQ) (P)(Q) (PQ)(P)(Q)

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T T F F T

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

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.
 Tautologies and Contradictions 25
 A tautology is a statement that is always true.

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 Examples:
 R(R)

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

 (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.
Equivalence 26
Definition: two propositional

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statements S1 and S2 are said to be
(logically) equivalent, denoted S1 

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

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 (Table 5 in Section 1.2)
Logical Equivalence 27
Equivalence Names

p  T p Identity laws

p  F p

p  T T Domination laws

p  F F

p  p p Idempotent laws

p  p p

 (  p) p Double negation law

p  q q  p Commutative laws

p  q q  p

(p  q)  r p  (q  r) Associative laws

(p  q)  r p  (q  r)

p  (q  r) (p  q)  (p  r) Distributive laws

p  (q  r) (p  q)  (p  r)

 (p  q)  p   q De Morgans laws

 (p  q)  p   q

p  (p  q) p Absorbtion laws

p  (p  q) p

p   p T Negation laws
p   p F
Logical Equivalence 28
Logical Equivalence Involving Conditional
29
Statements


 p → q ≡  p ∨q

p→ q≡ q→ p

p ∨q ≡  p → q

p  q ≡  (p →  q)

 (p → q) ≡ p   q

(p → q)  (p → r) ≡ p → (q  r)

(p → r)  (q → r) ≡ (p ∨ q) → r

(p → q) ∨ (p → r) ≡ p → (q ∨ r)

(p → r) ∨ (q → r) ≡ (p  q) → r
Logical Equivalence Involving Biconditional
30
Statements

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

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

p ↔ q ≡ (p → q)  (q → p)

p ↔ q ≡  p ↔ q

p ↔ q ≡ (p  q) ∨ (  p   q)

 (p ↔ q) ≡ p ↔  q
 Exercises 31
• Show that P  Q   P  Q: by truth table

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CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures
 Exercises 32

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Show that  (p ∨ (  p  q)) and  p   q are logically equivalent by developing a series
Example:

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

of

 (p ∨ (  p  q)) ≡  p ∧ (  p  q) by the second De Morgan law

logical equivalences.

≡  p  [  (  p)∨  q]
≡  p  (p ∨ q)
by the first De Morgan law

≡ (  p  p) ∨ (  p   q)
by the double negation law

≡ F ∨ (  p   q)
by the second distributive law
because ￢ p  p ≡ F
≡ (  p   q) ∨ F by the commutative law for disjunction

Consequently  (p ∨ (  p  q)) and  p   q are logically equivalent.

≡ p  q by the identity law for F
 Exercises 33

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Show that (p  q) → (p ∨ q) is a tautology.
Example:

CMSC 203 - Discrete Structures

(p  q) → (p ∨ q) ≡  (p ∧ q) ∨ (p ∨ q) by Example 3
≡ (  p ∨ q) ∨ (p ∨ q)
≡ (  p ∨ p) ∨ (  q ∨ q)
by the first De Morgan law

≡ T ∨T
by the associative and commutative laws for disjunction
by Example 1 and the commutative law for disjunction
≡ T by the domination law