Chapter Three

Predicate Logic
 Limitations of the propositional logic

Propositional logic: the world is described in terms of

elementary propositions and their logical combinations
Elementary statements:
• Typically refer to objects, their properties and relations.
• But these are not explicitly represented in the propositional
logic.
Example:
“John is a CS student.”
John a CS student

object properties

• Objects and properties are hidden in the statement.

 …
1) Statements that must be repeated for many objects
Example: If John is a CS post graduate then John has passed
cs441
Translation:
John is a CS post graduate → John has passed cs441
 Similar statements can be written for other post
graduates:
Hana is a CS post graduate → Hana has passed cs441
Blen is a CS post graduate →Blen has passed cs441 …etc
 Solution: make statements with variables
– If x is a CS post graduate then x has passed cs441
– x is a CS post graduate → x has passed cs441
 …
2) Statements that define the property of the
group of objects.
Example:
All new cars must be registered.
Some of the CS graduates graduate with honors.
Solution: make statements with quantifiers.
 Universal quantifier –the property is satisfied by all
members of the group
 Existential quantifier – at least one member of the
group satisfy the property
Predicates
• Remedies the limitations of the propositional logic
 Explicitly models objects and their properties.
 Allows to make statements with variables and quantify them.
• A Predicate is a declarative sentence whose true/false
value depends on one or more variables.
• The statement “x is greater than 3" has two parts:
 the object: x is the object of the statement
 the predicate/property: “is greater than 3" (a property that
the object can have).
 Predicates
• We denote the statement “x is greater than 3" by P (x),
where P is the predicate “is greater than 3" and x is
the variable.
• “The statement P (x) is also called the value of
propositional function P at x”.
• Assign a value to x, so P (x) becomes a proposition
and has a truth value:
• P (5) is the statement “5 is greater than 3“.
so P (5) is true.
• P (2) is the statement “2 is greater than 3",
so P (2) is false.
 Predicates: Examples
• Prime(x) = “x is a prime number."
 Prime(2) is true, since the only numbers that divide
2 are 1 and itself.
 Prime(9) is false, since 3 divides 9.
• C(x, y)=“x is the capital of y".
 C(Ottawa,Canada) is true.
 C(Harar,Ethiopia) is false.
• E(x, y, z) = “x + y = z".
 E(2, 3, 5) is ...
 E(4, 4, 17) is ...
 Basic building blocks of the predicate
logic:
• Constant:- models a specific object
Examples: “John”, “France”, “7”
• Variable:- represents object of specific type (defined by
the universe of discourse)
Examples: x, y
• (universe of discourse can be people, students, numbers)
• Predicate:- over one, two or many variables or constants.
– Represents properties or relations among objects.
Examples: Red(car23), student(x), married(John,Blen)
 …
• A predicate P(x) assigns a value true or false
to each x depending on whether the property
holds or not for x.
Example 1:
• Assume Student(x) where the universe of
discourse are people
• Student(John) …. T (if John is a student)
• Student(Tesfu) … F (if Tesfu is not a student)
…etc
 …
• Assume a predicate P(x) that represents the
statement:
Example2 :- x is a prime number
What are the truth values of:
• P(2) T
• P(3) T
• P(4) F
• P(5) T
All statements P(2), P(3), P(4), P(5) are
propositions.
 …
• Predicates can have more arguments which
represent the relations between objects.
Example:
• Older(Feven , Hana) denotes “Feven is older
than Hana”
 this is a proposition because it is either true or
false.
• Older(x , y) -‘x is older than y’
 not a proposition, but after the substitution it
becomes one.
 …
Example:
• Let Q(x,y) denote ‘x+5 >y’
– Is Q(x,y) a proposition? No!
– Is Q(3,7) a proposition? Yes!.It is true.
What is the truth value of:
– Q(3,7) T
– Q(1,6) F
– Is Q(3,y) a proposition? No!We cannot say if it
is true or false.
 Compound statements in predicate logic

• Compound statements are obtained via logical connectives.

Examples:
• Student(Hana) ˄ Student(Blen)
Translation:“Both Hana and Blen are students”
Proposition:yes.
• Country(Rasdashn) ˅ River(Rasdashn)
Translation:“Rasdashn is a country or a river”
Proposition:yes.
• CS-rep(x) → Student(x)
Translation:“if x is a CS-rep then x is a student”
Proposition:no.
 Quantified statements
• Predicate logic lets us to make statements about groups
of objects.
 To do this we use special quantified expressions.
• Two types of quantified statements:
1) Universal /for all /
Example: ‘ all CS students to graduate they must pass
cs441 course”
– the statement is true for all graduates
2) Existential /exists/
Example: ‘Some CS students graduate with honor.’
– the statement is true for some people
 Universal quantifier
• Defn: The universal quantification of P(x) is the proposition:
 “P(x) is true for all values of x in the domain of discourse.“
The notation x P(x) denotes the universal quantification of
P(x), and is expressed as “for every x, P(x)”.
Example:
• Let P(x) denote x > x - 1.
• What is the truth value of x P(x)?
• Assume the universe of discourse of x is all real numbers.
Answer: Since every number x is greater than itself minus 1.
Therefore, x P(x) is true.
 …
• Quantification converts a propositional function
into a Proposition by binding a variable to a set
of values from the universe of discourse.
Example:
• Let P(x) denote x > x - 1.
• Is P(x) a proposition? No.Many possible
substitutions.
• Is x P(x) a proposition? Yes.True if for all x
from the universe of discourse P(x) is true.
Universally quantified statements
Example:-
A, CS-rep(x) → Student(x)
–Translation:“if x is a CS-rep then x is a
student”
–Proposition: no!.
B, x CS-rep(x) → Student(x)
–Translation:“(For all people it holds that) if
a person is a CS-rep then she/he is a student.”
–Proposition: yes!.
 Existential quantifier
Defn: The existential quantification of P(x) is the proposition
 "There exists an element in the domain (universe) of
discourse such that P(x) is true."
The notation x P(x)denotes :-
• the existential quantification of P(x), and is expressed as
“there is an x such that P(x) is true”.
Example 1:
• Let T(x) denote x > 5 and x is from Real numbers.
• What is the truth value of x T(x)?
Answer:
• Since 10 > 5 is true. Therefore, it is true that x T(x).
 …
Example 2:
• Let Q(x) denote x = x + 2 where x is real
numbers .
• What is the truth value of x Q(x)?
Answer: Since no real number is 2 larger than
itself, the truth value of x Q(x) is false.
 Quantified statements
• Statements about groups of objects.
Example:
• CS-post-graduate (x) ˄ Honor-student(x)
–Translation:“x is a CS-post-graduate and x is an
honor student”
–Proposition: no!.
• x CS-post-graduate (x) ˄ Honor-student(x)
–Translation:“There is a person who is a CS-post-
graduate and who is also an honor student.”
–Proposition:yes!.
 Mixing Quantifiers
• Existential and Universal quantifiers can be used
together to quantify a predicate statement;
For example: x y P(x,y) is perfectly valid.
• However ,you must be careful it must be read left to
right.
• x y P(x,y) is not equivalent to y x P(x,y) ,thus
ordering is important.
Example: x y Loves(x,y):everybody loves somebody
• y x Loves(x,y):there is someone loved by
everyone.
• However you can commute similar quantifiers;
x y P(x,y) is equivalent to y x P(x,y).
 Precedence and scope of quantifiers
•  and  have higher precedence than logical operators(connectives).
Example: x P(x) ˅ Q(x) means (x P (x)) ˅ Q(x), it doesn't mean
x(P (x) ˅ Q(x)).
• (Note: This statement is not a proposition since there is a free
variable!)
Binding variables and scope
• When a quantifier is used on the variable x we say that this occurrence
of x is bound.
• When the occurrence of a variable is not bound by a quantifier or
set to a particular value, the variable is said to be free.
• The part of a logical expression to which a quantifier is applied is the
scope of the quantifier.
• A variable is free if it is outside the scope of all quantifiers.
• In the example above, (xP (x)) ˅ Q(x), the x in P (x) is bound by
the universal quantifier, while the x in Q(x) is free.
 Summary of quantified statements
When x P(x)and  x P(x)are true and false?
• Suppose the elements in the universe of discourse can be enumerated as
x1, x2, ..., xN then:
•  x P(x) is true whenever P(x1) ˄ P(x2) ˄... ˄ P(xN) is true
•  x P(x) is true whenever P(x1) ˅ P(x2) ˅... ˅ P(xN) is true.
 Predicate logic as formal language
• Generally predicates are used to describe certain
properties or relationships between individuals or
objects.
Example: Hana and Blen are sisters, the phrase “are
sisters” is a predicate(properties or relation).
 The entities connected this way Hana and Blen are
constants/terms.
• The arguments can be either variable or constants.
• In predicate calculus ,each predicate is given a
name, which is followed by the list of arguments.
 …
• The list of arguments is enclosed in parentheses.
Example :- mother(Blen,Nati)
“Blen is the mother of Nati”
• The order of arguments is important.
• The statement mother(Blen,Nati) and
mother(Nati,Blen) have completely different
meaning.
• A predicate name followed by argument list in
parentheses is called an atomic formulas.
• The atomic formulas can be combined by logical
connectives (˄,˅,¬,→…) like propositions.
Example: cat(Tomi)→hastail(Tomi)
 Translation
• Translating sentences without variables or quantifiers
is straightforward.
• Just remember that proper names
translate into individual constants or common nouns
into predicates.
• Be careful to combine the right number of arguments
with each n-place predicate.
• You combine two wffs together using the
connectives just like you did in Propositional Logic.
Here are two examples to get you started.
 Example 1
• If Addis will marry Helen or Tigistu will, then Yonas won’t
Let MARRY = will marry, a = Addis, h = Helen, t=Tigistu
Translation:
(MARRY(a,h) ∨ MARRY(t,h)) → ¬ MARRY(y,h))
 Addis will marry Helen MARRY(a,h)
 Tigistu will marry Helen MARRY(t,h)
 Yonas will marry Helen MARRY(y,h)
 Yonas won’t marry Helen ¬ MARRY(y,h)
 Addis will marry Helen or Tigistu will
(MARRY(a,h) ∨ MARRY(t,h))
 If Addis will marry Helen or Tigistu will, then Yonas won’t
(MARRY(a,h)∨ MARRY(t,h))→¬ MARRY(y,h))
 Example 2

• Blen and Addis left home but Thomas did not

Let L = left home, b = Blen, a= Addis, t = Thomas
Translation: ((L(b) ∧ L(a)) ∧ ¬L(t))
Blen left home L(b)
Addis left home L(a)
Thomas left home L(t)
Thomas didn’t leave home ¬L(t)
Blen and Addis left home (L(b) ∧ L(a))
Blen and Addis left home but Thomas did not
((L(b) ∧ L(a)) ∧ ¬L(t))
Thank You!!!