English

versus
Mathematics
The Language of
Mathematics
 Language facilitates communication and meaning-making.
It allows people to express themselves and maintain their
identity.
 Language bridges the gap among people from various
cultural origins without prejudice to their background and
upbringing.
 Just like Mandarin, English, Greek or any other languages,
Mathematics is also a language. It has its own language
system.
Characteristics of
Mathematical
Precise

Language
Symbolic Concise
Mathematics
Language

Powerful
 Mathematics describes abstract structures.
 Mathematics is the language of the sciences,
business, economics, music, architecture, arts, and
even politics.
 Mathematics tries to avoid difficulty by adopting a
universally understood symbolic system for its
language.
 Mathematics can be considered a common language
of the world.
Expressions vs.
Sentences
 A mathematical sentence must state a complete thought.

 An expression is a name given to a mathematical object

of interest.
Example: 1 + 2
an ordered pair (a, b, c)
1 4
a matrix
−2 3
a function 𝑓(𝑥)
the set (1, 3, 5)
Truth of
Sentences
 Mathematical sentence may either true or false
but not both.
Example 1. Write as English sentences and say
whether they are true or false.
1. ∀𝑥 ∈ ℜ, 𝑥 2 ≥ 0
2. ∀𝑥, 𝑦 ∈ ℜ, (𝑥 + 𝑦)2 =𝑥 2 + 2𝑥𝑦 + 𝑦 2
3. ∃𝑚, 𝑛 ∈ 𝑍, 𝑚 − 𝑛 ≤ 𝑚 + 𝑛
4. ∀𝑎, 𝑏 ∈ 𝑄, 𝑎𝑏 = 0 ⇒ a = 0 ˅ b = 0
 Solution:
1. For any real number x, its square is greater than
or equal to 0. TRUE
2. For any real numbers x and y, the square of their
sum is equal to the sum of their squares plus
twice their product. TRUE
3. There exist integers m and n such that m minus n
is less than or equal to m plus n. TRUE
4. For any rational numbers a and b, if their
product is zero then either a or b equals 0. TRUE
 Example 2: Write as mathematical sentences.
Discuss how the word “is” is used.
1. Ten is the square root of one hundred.
2. Ten is greater than nine.
3. Ten is an even number.
4. Ten is a multiple of five.

If you notice, the word “is” could mean

equality, inequality or membership in a
set.
 are used for counting and answer the
question “how many?”

 tell the position of a thing in terms of

first, second, third, etc.

 are used only as a name, or to

identify something (not as an actual
value or position).
Unary Operations
 A unary operation accepts only one value or
operand.
Examples:
 −5
 sin 𝑥
 cos 45˚
𝜋
 tan
3
Binary
Operations
 A binary operation take two values, and include
the operations of addition, subtraction,
multiplication, division, and exponentiation.
Example:
 3 − (−2)
Properties on
Binary
1. Closure of Binary Operations
The product and the sum of any two real

Operations
numbers is also a real number. In symbols, we write

∀𝒙, 𝒚 ∈ ℜ, x + y ∈ ℜ and 𝑥 ∙ 𝑦 ∈ ℜ
2. Commutative of Binary Operations
Addition and multiplication of any two real
numbers is commutative as seen in the
mathematical symbols, these are written in

∀x, y ∈ ℜ, 𝐱 + 𝐲 = 𝐲 + 𝐱 (addition)
∀x, y ∈ ℜ, 𝐱 ∙ 𝐲 = 𝐲 ∙ 𝐱 (multiplication)
3. Associativity of Binary Operations
Given any three real numbers you may take any
two and perform addition or multiplication as the
case maybe and you will end with the same answer.
For addition in symbols we write,
∀𝒙, 𝒚, 𝒛 ∈ ℜ, 𝐱 + 𝐲 + 𝐳 = 𝐱 + 𝐲 + 𝐳
On the other hand, for multiplication, we write,
∀𝒙, 𝒚, 𝒛 ∈ ℜ, 𝐱 ∙ 𝐲 ∙ 𝐳 = 𝐱 ∙ 𝐲 ∙ 𝐳
4. Distributive of Binary Operations
Distributive applies when multiplication is
performed on a group of two number added or
subtracted together. Given three real numbers x, y,
and z, this property is stated in symbolic notation
as,

∀𝒙, 𝒚, 𝒛 ∈ ℜ, 𝐳 𝐱 + 𝐲 = 𝐳𝐱 + 𝐳𝐲
4. Identity Elements of Binary Operations
An element of the set of real numbers is an
identity element for addition if,
∀𝒙 ∈ ℜ, 𝐱 + 𝐞 = 𝐞 + 𝐱 = 𝐱
this means that the identity is the real number
that you add to any real number and the result will
be the same number. The only number that satisfies
the property is the number zero for addition. The
identity element e is zero or e = 0.

What then is the identity element under

multiplication?
4. Inverse of Binary Operations
Addition
∀𝒙 ∈ ℜ, 𝒙 + −𝒙 = −𝐱 + 𝐱 = 𝟎

Multiplication
𝟏 𝟏
𝒙∙ = ∙𝒙=𝟏
𝒙 𝒙
Some
Fundamentals of
Why do most people argue over some issue and
never get to the bottom of it? Sometimes people in
dispute say that “they do not see eye to eye”. This

Logic
expression means that the people involved in an
argument never get to agree on the issues at hand.
In many cases, the disagreement lies on not being
able to present sound arguments based on facts, or
the failure to convince the contending party using
logical arguments.
 To avoid such a scenario in mathematics and to
uphold certainty in the validity of mathematical
statements, mathematics employs the powerful
language of logic in asserting truths of statements.
The use of logic illustrates the importance of
precision and conciseness in communicating
mathematics.
Propositions
A proposition is a statement which is either true (T)
or false (F).
Example 1: Each of the following statements is a
proposition. Some are true and some are false. Can you
tell which are true, and which are false? If it is false,
state why.
a) 9 is a prime number.
b) 5 + 3 = 8
c) 𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 ≥ 0
d) 10 < −3
The Truth Table
and Negation
A truth table is a table that shows the truth
value of a compound statement for all possible
truth values of its simple statements.

A statement is a negation of another if the word

is not introduced in the negative statement.
Let P be a proposition. The negation of P is “not P”
or ¬P.

P ¬P
T F
F T
Example 2: What is the negation of the following
statements?
a) 𝑃: 2 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟.
b) 𝑅: 6 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑑𝑑 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟.
Logical
Connectives
Let P and Q be propositions. A logical connective
is the connective is the mathematical equivalent of
a conjunction in English. The most common
conjunctions in mathematics are “and” and “or”,
which are denoted by ∧ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ∨, respectively.
P Q P∧Q P∨Q
F F F F
F T F T
T F F T
T T T T
Implications
Suppose P and Q are propositions. The
proposition P⇒Q (read as “if P, then Q) is called an
implication. P is called the premise and Q is called
the conclusion. Other ways of reading P⇒Q are:
 P implies Q P Q P⇒Q
 Q if P F F T
F T T
 Q is implied by P T F F
 Q only if P T T T
 A more complicated form of implication is the bi
implication or the biconditional denoted by the
symbol ⇔. The statement P⇔Q is true if and only if
both P and Q are either both true or both false. The
statement P⇔Q is equivalent to the statement

𝑷 ⇔ 𝑸 ≡ (𝑷 ⇒ 𝑸) ∧ (𝑸 ⇒ 𝑷)
The truth table for Biconditional
Implications:
P Q P⇒Q Q⇒P P⇔Q

F F T T T
F T T F F
T F F T F
T T T T T

A biconditional is often stated as,

𝑃 𝑖𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑓 𝑄 or
𝑃 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑄.
Example 3: Write the following in symbolic form
using P, Q, and R for statements and the symbols
¬, ∧, ∨, ⇒, ⇔ where
P: Pres. Duterte is a good president.
Q: Government officials are corrupt.
R: People are happy.
1. If Pres. Duterte is a good president, then the
government officials are not corrupt.
2. If government officials are not corrupt, then the
people are happy.
3. If Pres. Duterte is a good president and people
are happy, then government officials are not
corrupt.
4. Pres. Duterte is not a good president if and only
if government officials are corrupt and people
are not happy.
Converse,
Inverse,
Suppose P and Q are propositions. Given the
implication P⇒Q. Its converse is Q⇒P, its inverse is
¬P⇒¬Q, and its contrapositive is ¬Q⇒¬P.

Contrapositive
That is,
Given: If P then Q.
Inverse: If not P then not Q.
Converse: If Q then P.
Contrapositive: If not Q then not P.
The truth table of the implication statement P⇒Q:

P Q P⇒Q
F F T
F T T
T F F
T T T
The truth table of the inverse, converse, and
contrapositive of P⇒Q:
Inverse Converse Contrapositive
¬P⇒¬Q Q⇒P ¬Q⇒¬P
T T T
F F T
T T F
T T T
Example 4: Give the converse, inverse, and
contrapositive of the following implications:

a. If this movie is interesting, then I am watching

it.
b. If p is a prime number, then it is odd.
Example 5: Identify three simple propositions in the
statement below and label them P, Q, and R. Then
express symbolically the statement using the logical
operators , , , , or .

Statement: A function 𝑓 has an inverse if and only if

𝑓 is one-to-one and onto.
Quantifiers
Quantifiers are used to describe the variable(s) in
a statement.
Types:
1. The universal quantifier is usually written in the
English language as “for all” or “for every”. It is
denoted by the symbol ∀.
2. The existential quantifier is expressed in words
as “there exists” or “for some”. This quantifier is
denoted by ∃.
Compound
Quantifiers
When one quantity is involved in a statement, it
is common to encounter more than one quantifier
for that statement. Special care must be taken in
the order in which these quantifiers appear. Order
does not matter if the same quantifier is used. For
mixed quantifiers, order is definitely important.
Example 6: Write as an English sentence and
determine if it is true or false.

a. ∀𝑥 ∈ ℜ,∃𝑦 ∈ ℜ,𝑥 + 𝑦 = 10
b. ∀𝑥 ∈ 𝑍 + ,∃𝑦 ∈ ℜ,𝑦 2 = 𝑥