BMATH2305 • DISCRETE STRUCTURE

Topic 3
Logic & Proof
 Outline
• Introduction to Logic
• Truth Tables
• Implication
• Logical Implication and Equivalence
• Valid Argument
• Predicate Calculus

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 Introduction to Logic

Statement and Truth Value

Compound Statement
Variables
Logical Connectives

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 Statement and Truth Value
• A statement is a declarative sentence that is
either true or false.
• The truth value of a statement is either TRUE
or FALSE.
• Although statements are either true or false
(and never both), we may not have enough
information to know its truth value.

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 Example Statement

 George Washington was the first president of the United

States.
 This is a true statement.
 The New York Knicks won the NBA basketball championship
in 1989.
 This is a false statement.

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 Compound Statement
• A compound statement is formed by combining statements
using the words “and,” “or,” “not,” or “if, then.”
• A simple statement is a statement that is not a compound
statement.

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 Variables

• To develop the rules of logic and logical

arguments, we need to deal with any logical
statement, rather than specific examples. We
use the variables a, b, c, and so on to
represent simple statements.

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 Example Compound
Statement

The number 6 is even and the number 5 is odd.

This compound statement is of the form p and q where p =
“The number 6 is even” and q = “The number 5 is odd.”
Tom Jones does a term paper or takes the final exam.
This compound statement is of the form p or q where p = “Tom
Jones does a term paper” and
q = “Tom Jones takes the final exam.”

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 Logical Connectives

• When writing compound statements in terms of its component parts, the

following logic symbols are used:

Word Symbol
and ^
or V

not ~
if, then 
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 Example Compound Statement
with ^

Define p and q and determine the logical connective to rewrite

the following statement:
Fred and Cindy like each other.
Let p = “Fred likes Cindy.”
Let q = “Cindy likes Fred.”
The symbolic statement then becomes p ^ q.

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Example Compound Statement with
V

Define p and q and determine the logical connective

to rewrite the following statement:
The train stops in New York or Washington.
Let p = “The train stops in New York.”
Let q = “The train stops in Washington.”
The symbolic statement then becomes p V q.

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 Example Compound Statement
with ~

Define p and q and determine the logical connective to rewrite

the following statement:
Fred likes Cindy but Cindy does not like Fred.
Let p = “Fred likes Cindy.”
Let q = “Cindy likes Fred.”
The symbolic statement then becomes p ^ ~q.

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 Example Compound Statement with


Define p and q and determine the logical connective

to rewrite the following statement:
If the train stops in New York, it does not stop in
Washington.
Let p = “The train stops in New York.”
Let q = “The train stops in Washington.”
The symbolic statement then becomes p ~ q.

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 Summary Section
 A logical statement (proposition) is a
declarative sentence that is either TRUE or FALSE.
 Logical statements frequently have
connectives such as and ^, or V, not ~, and
implies (if, then ) .

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 Outline
• Introduction to Logic√
• Truth Tables
• Implication
• Logical Implication and Equivalence
• Valid Argument
• Predicate Calculus
• Logic Circuits

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 Truth Tables
Statement Form
Propositional Calculus
Truth Table
Tautology and Contradiction
Exclusive Or
Tree
Logic and Computer Languages

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 Statement Form

•A statement form is an expression formed from

simple statements and connectives according to
the following rules.
•A simple statement is a statement form.
•If p is a statement form, ~p is a statement form.
•If p and q are statement forms, then so are p ^
q, p V q, and p  q.

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 Example Statement Form

• If p, q, and r are simple statements, then

a) ( p ^ ~ r )  r is a statement form.
b) ~ ( p  ( q v ~ r )) is a statement form.

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 Tautology and Contradiction
•A statement form that has truth value TRUE
regardless of the truth values of the individual
statement variables it contains is called a
tautology.
•A statement form that has truth value FALSE
regardless of the truth values of the individual
statement variables it contains is called a
contradiction.

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Example Truth Table of Negation ( ~ )

p ~p
T F
F T
Note: T means TRUE and F means FALSE.
The statement form ~ p has the opposite truth
value as the statement form p.
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Example Truth Table of Conjunction
(^)

p q p^q
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F F
The statement form p ^ q is TRUE if and only if
both statement forms p and q are TRUE.
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Example Truth Table of Disjunction
(v)

p q p vq
T T T
T F T
F T T
F F F
The statement form p V q is FALSE if and only if
both statement forms p and q are FALSE.
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 Truth Table for More Than One
Connective

•If a statement form contains more than one

connective, the truth table often includes the
truth values of the intermediate steps. See the
following example.

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Example More Than One Connective

Find the truth table for ( p v q ) ^ ~ ( p ^ q ).

p q ( p v q) ^ ~ (p^q)

T T T F F T
T F T T T F
F T T T T F
F F F F T F
1 2 3 6 5 4

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 Exclusive Or
•The statement of the previous example
( p v q ) ^~ ( p ^ q )
•can be read as “p or q but not both p and q.” This is the exclusive or and is denoted by
the symbol v.

p q pvq
T T F
T F T
F T T
F F F
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Example More Than Two Variables

Construct the truth table for

( p V q ) ^ (( p V r ) ^ ~ q ).

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Example More Than Two Variables

p q r ( p v q ) ^ (( p v r ) ^ ~ q )
T T T F F T F F
T T F F F T F F
T F T T T T T T
T F F T T T T T
F T T T F T F F
F T F T F F F F
F F T F F T T T
F F F F F F F T
1 2 3 4 8 5 7 6
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 Tree
•Another method of describing a For example:
statement form is by using a
tree. The statement form is (p^~q)r
written at the top of the tree.
The statement is then separated
along the branches into its
operands until only simple
( p ^ ~ q) r
statements are at the end of the
branches.

p ~q

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q 28
 Example Tree
T
•Use a tree to find the
truth value of
•( p ^ ~ q ) v r T F
•if p is true and q and r
are both false.
T T
•The statement is TRUE.

F
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Logic and Computer Languages

•Many computer languages and graphing calculators use logical

connectives in programs that depend on logical decision making.
•For example in a TI-89

Calculator
Logic symbol
Function
AND ^
OR V
NOT ~
XOR v
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 Example Excel
•Use an Excel spreadsheet to find the truth value
of
(p^~q)vr
if p is TRUE and q and r are both FALSE.

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 Summary Section
 A statement without any connectives is called
a simple statement. A statement form is a simple
statement or simple statements with
connectives. The truth value of a statement
form depends only on the truth values of the
simple statements it contains.
 The exclusive or, denoted by p v q, is TRUE only
if one of p or q is TRUE but not both. Otherwise, it
is FALSE.
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 Summary Section

 A truth table or tree can be used to determine the truth value

of a statement form.
 The truth table for the connectives ~, ^, V and V is

p q ~p p^q pVq pvq

T T F T T F
T F F F T T
F T T F T T
F F T F F F
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 Summary Section
 A statement that always has a truth value TRUE
is called a tautology. A statement that always
has a truth value FALSE is called a contradiction.
 The logical connectives used in computer
languages and calculators AND, OR, NOT and XOR
correspond to the symbols ^, V, ~ and V,
respectively.

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 Outline
• Introduction to Logic √
• Truth Tables √
• Implication
• Logical Implication and Equivalence
• Valid Argument
• Predicate Calculus
• Logic Circuits

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 Implication
Conditional Connective
English Equivalents
Converse
Biconditional Connective
Order of Precedence
Implication and Computer Languages

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 Conditional Connective

•The logic symbol  is called p q p q

the conditional connective.
•The statement p  q is T T T
FALSE only if the hypothesis
p is TRUE and the conclusion T F F
q is FALSE. F T T
•Otherwise, it is TRUE.
F F T

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 English Equivalents

• There are several ways to read p  q in English.

1. p implies q.
2. If p, then q.
3. p only if q.
4. q, if p.
5. p is sufficient for q.
6. q is a necessary condition for p.

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 Example English Equivalences

• Determine the hypothesis and the conclusion

for each of the following.
a) Bill goes to the party only if Greta goes to the
party.
b) Sue goes to the party if Craig goes to the party.
c) For 6 to be even, it is sufficient that its square,
36, be even.

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 Example English Equivalences (a)

a) Bill goes to the party only if Greta goes to the

party.
b) The statement is of the form p only if q.
c) The hypothesis p is “Bill goes to the party.”
d) The conclusion q is “Greta goes to the party.”

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Example English Equivalences (b)

b) Sue goes to the party if Craig goes to the

party.
• The statement is of the form q, if p.
• The hypothesis p is “Craig goes to the party.”
• The conclusion q is “Sue goes to the party.”

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 Example English Equivalences (c)

c) For 6 to be even, it is sufficient that its

square, 36, be even.
• The statement is of the form p is sufficient for
q.
• The hypothesis p is “The square of the integer
6 is even.”
• The conclusion q is “The integer 6 is even.”

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 Converse

•The implication q  p is the converse of the

statement p  q.
•For example, the converse of the statement
•“If x = -6, then x2 = 36”
•is
•“If x2 = 36, then x = -6.”

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 Example Converse

•Construct the truth table for ( p  q ) ^ ( q  p ).

p q (pq) ^ (qp)
T T T T T
T F F F T
F T T F F
F F T T T
1 2 3 5 4

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 Biconditional
•The statement form ( p  q ) ^ ( q  p ) is referred
to as the biconditional, which we write as p  q.
It is read as “p, if and only if q.”
•The biconditional is TRUE only if both statements
p and q have the same truth value. Otherwise
the statement is FALSE.

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 Order of Precedence

•Whenever two or more connectives are listed

in a statement form with no parentheses to
indicate the order of the connectives, the
following order of precedence is to be used.
~, ^, V, , .

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Example Order of Precedence

•Insert parentheses in the statement

•p ^ q v r  ~ s ^ r
•to show the proper order for the application of
the connectives.
~
^ p ^ q v r~ s ^ r
v

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 Implication and Computer
Languages

•The logical connective  is used in writing

computer programs. One example is the
•“IF … THEN … ELSE”
•statement. The computer checks to see if the
statement following IF is TRUE. If it is, then the
statement following THEN is executed. If it is not
TRUE, then the statement following ELSE is
executed.
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 Example IF … THEN … ELSE

•For the given input values of A and B, use the program to

determine the value of C.
• IF (A*B + 6 > 10)
• THEN LET C = A*B
• ELSE LET C = 10
•a) A = -2, B = -7 b) A = -2, B = 3

•Note: * denotes multiplication.

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 Example IF … THEN … ELSE (a)

•a) A = -2, B = -7:

•IF (A*B + 6 > 10):
•A*B + 6 > 10 is (-2)(-7) + 6 > 10.
•The above statement is TRUE.
•THEN LET C = A*B:
•C = A*B becomes C = 14.
•The computer sets C to 14.

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 Example IF … THEN … ELSE (b)

•b) A = -2, B = 3:
•IF (A*B + 6 > 10):
•A*B + 6 > 10 is (-2)(3) + 6 > 10.
•The above statement is FALSE.
•ELSE LET C = 10:
•The computer sets C to 10.

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 Summary Section
 The truth table for the conditional connective  and the
biconditional connective  is

p q pq pq
T T T T
T F F F
F T F T
F F T T

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 Summary Section
 The order of precedence of logical connectives is
~, ^, V,  ,  .
If parentheses are present in the statement, then they
take precedence over the above order.
 The converse of p  q is q  p. If an implication is TRUE,
its converse is not necessarily TRUE.

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 Summary Section
 The statement p  q is the implication “if p, then q (or
p implies q).” It is FALSE only when p is TRUE and q is FALSE.
The two-way implication p  q is TRUE whenever p and q
have the same truth value and FALSE otherwise.
 The logical connective used in computer languages
IF…THEN corresponds to the logical symbol .

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 Outline
• Introduction to Logic √
• Truth Tables √
• Implication √
• Logical Implication and Equivalence
• Valid Argument
• Predicate Calculus
• Logic Circuits

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Logical Implication and Equivalence
Logically Equivalent
Statements as Variables
De Morgan’s Laws
Other Equivalences
Substitution Principles
Logical Implications

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 Logically Equivalent
Two statement forms that have the same truth tables are called
logically equivalent.
A statement that has the truth value TRUE regardless of the truth
value of its component statements is called a tautology and we
denote it with the letter t.
A statement that has the truth value FALSE regardless of the
truth value of its component statements is called a contradiction
and we denote it by the letter c.

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 Example Logically Equivalent

•Verify that ~(p V q)  (~p ^ ~q).

p q ~( p V q )  ( ~p ^ ~q )

T T F T T F F F
T F F T T F F T
F T F T T T F F
F F T F T T T T
1 2 4 3 8 5 7 6

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 Statements as Variables

For convenience, we denote compound statement

forms by capital letters.
P is logically equivalent to Q if and only if
P  Q is a tautology.
In this case, we write P  Q.

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 De Morgan’s Laws

The following two statements are called De

Morgan’s laws.
~ (p V q)  (~ p ^ ~ q)
~ (p ^ q)  (~ p V ~ q)

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 Example De Morgan’s Laws

Negate the statement “The earth’s orbit is round

and a year has 365 days.”
If p is “The earth’s orbit is round” and q is “A
year has 365 days,” then the original statement is
p ^ q. We want ~ (p ^ q)  (~ p V ~ q).
The negation is “The earth’s orbit is not round or
a year does not have 365 days.”

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 Other Equivalences (1)
Double negation:
~ ~p  p
Commutative laws:
(p V q)  (q V p)
(p ^ q)  (q ^ p)
(p  q)  (q  p)
Associative laws:
(( p V q ) V r ))  ( p V ( q V r ))
(( p ^ q ) ^ r ))  ( p ^ ( q ^ r ))
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 Other Equivalences (2)

Distributive laws:
( p v ( q ^ r ))  (( p v q ) ^ ( p v r ))
( p ^ ( q v r ))  (( p ^ q ) v ( p ^ r ))
Idempotent laws:
( p v p)  p
( p ^ p)  p
Identity laws:
(pvc)p
(pvt)t
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 Other Equivalences (3)

(p^c)c
(p^t)p
( p v ~p)  t
( p ^ ~p)  c
Contrapositive:
( p  q) ( ~q  ~p )
Implication:
( p  q)  ( ~p v q )
( p  q)  ~ ( p ^ ~ q )
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 Other Equivalences (4)

Equivalence:
( p  q )  (( p  q ) ^ ( q  p ))
Reductio ad absurdum:
( p  q )  (( p ^ ~ q )  c )

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 Example Contrapositive
A recent Associated Press article quoted a
prominent official as having said, “If Mr. Jones
is innocent of a crime, then he is not a suspect.”
State the contrapositive.
The contrapositive is “If Mr. Jones is a suspect,
then he is guilty of a crime.”

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 Substitution Principles

Suppose that the compound statement P is a tautology.

If p is a primitive statement that appears in P and we
replace each occurrence of p by the same statement q,
then the resulting compound statement Q is also a
tautology.
Let P be a compound statement where p is an arbitrary
statements that appears in P and let q be a statement
such that q  p. Suppose that in P we replace one or
more occurrences of p by q. Then this replacement
yield the compound statement Q and Q  P.
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Example Substitution Principles

Rewrite the statement form

(p q) ^ (q v r)
Using only the connectives ~ and v.

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Example Substitution Principles

(p  q) ^ (q v r)
 (~ p v q) ^ (q v r) Implication
 (q v ~p) ^ (q v r) Commutative law
 q v ( ~p ^ r) Distributive law
 q v ( ~p ^ ~ ~ r) Double negative
 q v ~ ( p v ~ r) De Morgan’s law.

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 Logical Implications

Given statement forms P and Q, we say that P logically

implies Q whenever P  Q is a tautology. We write this
as P  Q.
Some logical implications are
Addition:
p  ( p v q)
Simplification:
( p ^ q)  p

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 Logical Implications (2)

Modus ponens:
( p ^ (p  q))  q
Modus tollens:
(( p  q) ^ ~ q)  ~ p
Disjunctive syllogism:
(( p v q) ^ ~q )  p
Hypothetical syllogism:
(( p  q) ^ ( q  r)) ( p  r)

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 Logical Implications (3)

Constructive dilemmas:
(( p  q) ^ ( r  s))  (( p v r)  ( q v s))
(( p  q) ^ ( r  s))  (( p ^ r)  ( q ^ s))

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 Example Logical Implications

•Verify ( p ^ (p  q))  q.
p q ( p ^ (p  q))  q
T T T T T
T F F F T
F T F T T
F F F T T
1 2 4 3 5

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 Summary Section

 We say two statements p and q are logically

equivalent and write p  q if they have the same truth
table, that is, p  q is a tautology.
 We say that p logically implies q and write
p  q if p  q is a tautology.
 The contrapositive of p  q is ~ q  ~ p. The two
statements are logically equivalent. That is,
( p  q ) ( ~ q  ~ p ) is a tautology.

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 Summary Section

The first substitution principle states that if p  q and p is

substituted for q in a tautology compound statement P, then the
resulting compound statement Q is also a tautology.
 The second substitution principle states that if P and Q both
contain the primitive statement p and P  Q, then if R is
substituted for p everywhere it appears in P and Q to yield P ’ and
Q ’, respectively, then P’  Q ’.

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 Summary Section

 There are many logical equivalences. Among these are the commutative,
associative, distributive, and De Morgan’s laws:
Commutative: ( p v q)  (q v p); ( p ^ q )  ( q ^ p )
Associative: ( p v q ) v r )  p v ( q v r );
(p^q)^r) p^(q^r)
Distributive: p v ( q ^ r )  ( p v q ) ^ ( p v r );
p^(qvr)(p^q)v(p^r)
De Morgan’s: ~ (p v q)  ~ p ^ ~ q) ;
~ (p ^ q)  ~ p v ~ q.
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 Outline
• Introduction to Logic √
• Truth Tables √
• Implication √
• Logical Implication and Equivalence √
• Valid Argument
• Predicate Calculus
• Logic Circuits

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