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1 Logical Equivalence: 1.1 Contrapositive, Converse and Inverse
1 Logical Equivalence: 1.1 Contrapositive, Converse and Inverse
When proving a proposition in mathematics it is often useful to look at a logical variation of the proposition
in question that “means the same thing”. What does “meaning the same thing” mean? For our purposes, in
keeping with our “meaning is truth, truth meaning” mantra, it will mean having the same truth-conditions.
This is the notion of logical equivalence.
Definition 1.1. Two (possibly compound) logical propositions are logically equivalent if they have the
same truth tables.
Comment 1.1. More specifically, to show two propositions P1 and P2 are logically equivalent, make a truth
table with P1 and P2 above the last two columns. The two are logically equivalent when these last two
columns are identical.
Comment 1.2. The fact that those columns are identical means that P1 and P2 have the same truth value
in every possible circumstance.
1.2 Examples
Example. Show that Not (P or Q) is logically equivalent to Not(P ) and Not(Q).
P Q Not(P or Q) Not(P ) and Not(Q)
T T F F
T F F F
F T F F
F F T T
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P Q R P ⇒Q (P ⇒ Q) and (R or Not(R))
T T T T T
T T F T T
T F T F F
T F F T T
F T T T T
F T F T T
F F T F F
F F F T T
P P and not(P )
Example (Logical contradiction). P and not P . T F
F F
2 Proof method
Many of the propositions you will be asked to prove (or disprove) will take the form of an implication
P ⇒Q
or an equivalence
P ⇔ Q.
Example. Prove: if n2 is an odd integer, then n is an odd integer.
Example. Prove: n2 is an odd integer if and only if n is an odd integer.
Our truth tables for implication and equivalence indicate how we should prove such statements.
2.1 Implication
According to our truth tables, to prove directly that P ⇒ Q is true, we need only show that if P is true,
then Q is true; this is because when P is false, the implication is vacuously true. Thus to prove P ⇒ Q
is true, we assume that P is true, and use this to show that Q is true. Recall that P ⇒ Q is logically
equivalent to the contrapositive ¬Q ⇒ ¬P . This suggests an indirect way of proving P ⇒ Q: namely,
we can prove its contrapositive. Logical equivalence guarantees that this is a valid proof method: the
implication is true exactly when the contrapositive is true; so if we can show the contrapositive is true, we
know the original implication is true too!
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Example. Let n be an integer. We will prove indirectly that if n2 is an odd, then n is odd.
• The contrapositive of this is ‘If n is not odd, then n2 is not odd’. Since ‘not odd’ is the same as ‘even’,
we have the statement ‘If n is even, then n2 is even’.
• Now prove the contrapositive. Assume n is even. Then we can write n = 2r for some r. But then
n2 = 4r2 = 2(2r2 ) = 2s is even. This proves the contrapositive, and hence the original implication.
2.2 Equivalence
When we first defined what P ⇔ Q means, we said that this equivalence is true if P ⇒ Q is true and the
converse Q ⇒ P is true. This is in fact a consequence of the truth table for equivalence. So one way of
proving P ⇔ Q is to prove the two implications P ⇒ Q and Q ⇒ P .
Example. Let n be an integer. Prove that n2 is odd if and only if n is odd.
• We must prove TWO implications, P ⇒ Q and Q ⇒ P .
• We have already proved P ⇒ Q.
• To prove Q ⇒ P , assume n is odd. Then n2 = n · n is also odd since an odd times an odd is odd. This
proves Q ⇒ P .
• Since both implications are true, the if and only if statement is true.
Since the converse Q ⇒ P is logically equivalent to the inverse ¬P ⇒ ¬Q, another way of proving the
equivalence P ⇔ Q is to prove the implication P ⇒ Q and its inverse ¬P ⇒ ¬Q. In summation we have
two different ways of proving P ⇔ Q:
1. Prove P ⇒ Q and Q ⇒ P , or
2. Prove P ⇒ Q and ¬P ⇒ ¬Q.