Chapter 5

Logic, Sets,
and
Counting

Section 1
Logic

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 1
 Introduction
 Quality control is crucial in manufacturing to ensure product
safety and reliability.
o One method of quality control is to test a sample of
manufactured parts
 The mathematics behind this method of quality control
involves logic, sets, and counting
 Logic and sets are foundational concepts for mathematics.
 We use logic to formulate precise mathematical statements.
 In this section, we introduce the symbolic logic of
propositions.
o Sets are studied in Section 7.2.
o In later sections in Chapter 7, we study various counting
techniques.
Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 2
 Logical Reasoning and Statements

[(p → q) ∧ p] ⇒ q

 Suppose the following two statements are true:

o “If today is Saturday, then Derek plays soccer,” and
o “Today is Saturday.”
 What conclusion can be drawn based on the truth of the
two statements?
“Derek plays soccer.”
 If we know, however, that Derek plays soccer, can we
reasonably conclude that today is Saturday?
o Why or why not?
Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 3
 Logical Reasoning and Statements

 Suppose the following two statements are true:

o “If the sum of the digits of 71,325 is divisible by 9,

then 71,325 is divisible by 9,” and
o “The sum of the digits of 71,325 is divisible by 9.”

 What conclusion can be drawn based on the truth of the

two statements?
“71,325 is divisible by 9.”

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 4
 Logic
 Logic is the study of the form of arguments.

 The statements in the previous slides, first about Derek,

then about divisibility by 9, symbolically have the same
form,
[(p → q) ∧ p] ⇒ q

 In this section, we introduce the notation that represents

an argument, and establish precision in the use of logical
deduction that is foundational to mathematical proof.

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 5
 Propositions and Connectives
 A proposition is a statement (not a question or command)
that is either true or false.
 So, the statement,
o “There is a prime number between 2,312 and 2,325” is
a proposition.
o A prime number is a number that can only be
divided by itself and 1 without remainders
 Lowercase letters, p, q, and r are used to denote
propositions.

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 6
 Propositions and Connectives
 If p and q are propositions, then compound propositions
can be formed using logic symbols as follows:

o Negation: ¬p “not p”

o Disjunction p ∨ q “p or q”

o Conjunction p ∧ q “p and q”

o Implication p → q “If p, then q”

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 7
 Definition Negation and a
Truth Table for Negation
 A truth table is used to specify a proposition’s truth value.

 If p is a proposition, then the proposition ¬p, read not p, or

the negation of p, is false if p is true and true if p is false.

 This is summarized in the following truth table.

p ¬p
T F
F T

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 8
 Definition Disjunction and a
Truth Table for Disjunction
 If p and q are propositions, then the proposition p ∨ q, read
p or q, or the disjunction of p and q, is true if p is true, or
if q is true, or if both are true and is false otherwise.
 This is summarized in the following truth table.
p q p∨q
T T T
T F T
F T T
F F F

 Note that or is used in the inclusive sense; that is, it

includes the possibility that both p and q are true.
 This mathematical usage differs from the way that or is
sometimes used in everyday language when we intend to
exclude the possibility that both are true.
Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 9
 Definition Conjunction and a
Truth Table for Conjunction
 If p and q are propositions, then the proposition p ∧ q, read
p and q, or the conjunction of p and q, is true if both p
and q are true and is false otherwise.

 This is summarized in the following truth table.

p q p∧q
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F F

 Note that and is used in the same manner as everyday

language.

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 10
 Definition Conditional and a
Truth Table for Conditional
 If p and q are propositions, then the proposition p → q,
read if p then q, or the conditional with hypothesis p and
conclusion q, is false if p is true and q is false but is true
otherwise.

 This is summarized in the following truth table.

p q p→q
T T T
T F F
F T T
F F T

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 11
 About the Use of Conditionals
 The definition of p → q differs somewhat from the use of
“if p then q” in everyday language.

 The proposition:
o “If Paris is in Switzerland, then Queens is in New
York” is true.
o There is no apparent connection between p (“Paris is in
Switzerland”) and q (“Queens is in New York”),
however, since the hypothesis p is false, the conditional
p → q is true.
 Whenever the hypothesis p is false, we say that the
conditional p → q is vacuously true.

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 12
 CONCEPTUAL INSIGHT
 It is helpful to think of the conditional as a guarantee.
 For example, an instructor of a mathematics course might
give a student the guarantee: “If you score at least 90%,
then you will get an A.”
o Suppose the student scores less than 90%, so the
hypothesis is false. The guarantee remains in effect
even though it is not applicable.
 We say that the conditional statement is vacuously
true.
o In fact, there is only one circumstance in which the
conditional statement could be false: The student scores
at least 90% (that is, the hypothesis is true), but the
grade is not an A (the conclusion is false).
Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 13
 Example 1 Compound Propositions
 Question: Consider the propositions p and q:
p: “4 + 3 is even.”
q: “42 + 32 is odd.”

o Express each of the following propositions as an

English sentence and determine whether it is true or
false.
(A) ¬p (B) ¬q (C) p ∨ q (D) p ∧ q (E) p → q
Solution (A): ¬p “4 + 3 is not even.”

Because 4 + 3 = 7 is odd, p is false, and therefore ¬p is true.

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 14
 Example 1 Compound Propositions
 Question: Consider the propositions p and q:
p: “4 + 3 is even.”
q: “42 + 32 is odd.”

 Express each of the following propositions as an English

sentence and determine whether it is true or false.
(A) ¬p (B) ¬q (C) p ∨ q (D) p ∧ q (E) p → q

Solution (B) ¬q: “42 + 32 is not odd.”

Because 42 + 32 = 25 is odd, q is true, and therefore ¬q is

false.

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 15
 Example 1 Compound Propositions
 Question: Consider the propositions p and q:
p: “4 + 3 is even.”
q: “42 + 32 is odd.”

 Express each of the following propositions as an English

sentence and determine whether it is true or false.
(A) ¬p (B) ¬q (C) p ∨ q (D) p ∧ q (E) p → q

Solution (C) p ∨ q: “4 + 3 is even or 42 + 32 is odd.”

Because q is true, p ∨ q is true.

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 16
 Example 1 Compound Propositions

 Question: Consider the propositions p and q:

p: “4 + 3 is even.”
q: “42 + 32 is odd.”

 Express each of the following propositions as an English

sentence and determine whether it is true or false.
(A) ¬p (B) ¬q (C) p ∨ q (D) p ∧ q (E) p → q

Solution (D) p ∧ q: “4 + 3 is even and 42 + 32 is odd.”

Because p is false, p ∧ q is false.

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 17
 Example 1 Compound Propositions
 Question: Consider the propositions p and q:
p: “4 + 3 is even.”
q: “42 + 32 is odd.”

 Express each of the following propositions as an English

sentence and determine whether it is true or false.
(A) ¬p (B) ¬q (C) p ∨ q (D) p ∧ q (E) p → q

Solution (E) p → q: “if 4 + 3 is even, then 42 + 32 is odd.”

Because p is false, p → q is (vacuously) true.

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 18
 Definition Converse and
Contrapositive

 Let p → q be a conditional proposition.

 The proposition q → p is called the converse of p → q.

 The proposition ¬q → ¬p is called the contrapositive of p → q.

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 19
 Example 2 Converse and
Contrapositive
 Question: Consider the propositions p and q:
p: “2 + 2 = 4”
q: “9 is a prime”
 Express each of the following propositions as an English
sentence and determine whether it is true or false.

(A) p → q

Solution p → q: “If 2 + 2 = 4, then 9 is a prime”

Because p is true and q is false, p → q is false.

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 20
 Example 2 Converse and
Contrapositive
 Question: Consider the propositions p and q:
p: “2 + 2 = 4”
q: “9 is a prime”
 Express each of the following propositions as an English
sentence and determine whether it is true or false.

(B) The converse of p → q

Solution q → p: “If 9 is a prime, then 2 + 2 = 4.”

Because the hypothesis q is false and p is true, q → p is

vacuously true.

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 21
 Example 2 Converse and
Contrapositive
 Question: Consider the propositions p and q:
p: “2 + 2 = 4”
q: “9 is a prime”
 Express each of the following propositions as an English
sentence and determine whether it is true or false.

(C) The contrapositive of p → q

Solution ¬q → ¬p: “If 9 is not a prime, then 2 + 2 is not
equal to 4”

Because the hypothesis q is false and p is true, ¬q is true and

¬p is false, so ¬q → ¬p is false.
Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 22
 Truth Tables

 A truth table for a compound proposition specifies whether

it is true or false for any assignment of truth values to its
variables.

 Truth tables can be constructed for any compound

proposition by referring to the truth tables of
o ¬, ∨, ∧, and →.

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 23
 Example 3 Constructing
Truth Tables
 Question: Construct the truth table for ¬p ∨ q.

 Solution The proposition contains two variables, p and q,

so the truth table will consist of four rows, one for each
possible assignment of truth values to two variables (TT,
TF, FT, and TT).
 Although it is possible to complete a truth table for this
proposition with three columns, an additional column for
¬p is helpful.

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 24
 Example 3 Constructing
Truth Tables continued
 The truth table for ¬p ∨ q is:

p q ¬p ¬p ∨ q
T T F T
T F F F
F T T T
F F T T
 Truth entries for the columns p and ¬p are opposite
because a proposition and its negation are opposite in
truth.
 The right side column for ¬p ∨ q is found by using the
disjunction truth values for the second and third columns.
 The truth table for ¬p ∨ q and for p → q are identical.
Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 25
 Example 4 Constructing a
Truth Table
 Question: Construct a truth table for [(p →q) ∧ p] → q.

 Solution Start with the truth table for the conditional p →q.

p q p→q
T T T
T F F
F T T
F F T

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 26
 Example 4 Constructing a
Truth Table
 Question: Construct a truth table for [(p →q) ∧ p] → q.

 Complete a fourth column for the conjunction (p →q) ∧ p

using the first and third columns.

p q p→q (p →q) ∧ p
T T T T
T F F F
F T T F
F F T F

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 27
 Example 4 Constructing a
Truth Table
 Question: Construct a truth table for [(p →q) ∧ p] → q.

 Complete a fifth column for the conditional [(p →q) ∧ p]

→ q using the first and fourth columns.
p q p→q (p →q) ∧ p [(p →q) ∧ p] → q
T T T T T
T F F F T
F T T F T
F F T F T

 Note that [(p →q) ∧ p] → q is true, regardless of the

truth values of p and q.
Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 28
 Tautology, Contradiction, or
Contingency
 Any proposition is either a tautology, a contradiction, or a
contingency.

Definition
 A proposition is a tautology if each entry in its column of
the truth table is T.

 A proposition is a contradiction if each entry in its

column of the truth table is F.

 A proposition is a contingency if at least one entry in its

column of a truth table is T and at least one entry is F.

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 29
 Example 5 Constructing a
Truth Table
 Question: Construct a truth table for p ∧ ¬(p ∨ q).

 Solution Start with the truth table for the disjunction p ∨

q.
p q p∨q
T T T
T F T
F T T
F F F

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 30
 Example 5 Constructing a
Truth Table
 Question: Construct a truth table for p ∧ ¬(p ∨ q).

 Complete a fourth column for the negation ¬(p ∨ q) using

the third column.
p q p∨q ¬(p ∨ q)
T T T F
T F T F
F T T F
F F F T

Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 31
 Example 5 Constructing a
Truth Table
 Question: Construct a truth table for p ∧ ¬(p ∨ q).
 Complete a fifth column for the conjunction p ∧ ¬(p ∨ q)
using the first and fourth columns.
p q p∨q ¬(p ∨ q) p ∧ ¬(p ∨
q)
T T T F F
T F T F F
F T T F F
F F F T F
 Note that p ∧ ¬(p ∨ q) is false, regardless of the truth
values of p and q.
o This proposition is a contradiction.
Barnett, College Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, GE
Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2011 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 32