Basic Concepts

A proposition is a sentence which is either true or false.

A tautology is a proposition which is always true.

A contradiction is a proposition which is always false.

A compound proposition is built from propositions by the use of

the connectives ``and'', ``or'' and ``not''.
Suppose we have two statements or propositions denoted by p and q respectively,
then the above three connectives may give rise to

p q, the conjunction of p and q, meaning ``p and q''

p q, the disconjunction of p and q, meaning ``p or q''

p, the negation of p, meaning ``not p''

Example

1. Among the following four sentences

(a)
Today is a rainy day.
(b)
David was wet this morning.
(c)
Did David get soaked in the rain?
(d)
Please read the notes.

only (a) and (b) are propositions. If we denote by p and q respectively the
propositions (a) and (b), then

p q represents ``Today is a rainy day and David was wet this morning''.

p q represents ``Either today is a rainy day, or David was wet this

morning, or both''.
 p represents ``Today is not a rainy day''.

In general, when p and q are propositions, p q (i.e. ``p and q'') for example
is true (T) if and only if both p and q are true. The precise effect or truth
values for the above connectives can be summerized in the following truth
tables

In fact we can take these tables as the precise definitions for the
corresponding connectives. Likewise one way of describing completely a
compound proposition is to give explicitly its truth table. Conversely, we
note that a truth table can also be used to define a compound proposition.