Discrete Structures / Mathematics

BSc IET (2+0 Credit Hour)

Lecture # 01 & 02

By: Dr. Shahid Anwar

Assistant Professor

Department of Information Engineering Technology (IET)

1
Introduction
 Discrete structures/mathematics has special relevance to
computer science.

 Computer is a binary machine and all the algorithms in

computer science are based on binary digits 0 and 1. We
therefore can say computer is inherently is DISCRETE.
Application of Discrete Structure

 Apart from computer sc. Discrete Structure have

application in many diverse areas.

 Example:
 Management Science
 Network Analysis
 Social decision making
 Finance
Reasons to study discrete
Mathematics.
 Mathematical Maturity essential to study any scientific
discipline.

 Prerequisite of number of advance courses i.e.

 Data Structures
 Algorithm Analysis
 Theory of Automata
 Computer Theory
 Course Objective
 Express statements with the precision of formal logic.

 Analyze arguments to test their validity.

 Apply the basic properties and operations related to sets.

 Apply to sets the basic properties and operations related to

relations and functions.

 Define terms recursively.

 Prove a formula using mathematical induction.

 Prove statements using direct and indirect methods.

 Illustrate the basic definitions of graph theory and

properties of graphs.
 The kind of problem solved using
Discrete Structure Course:
 How many ways are there to choose a valid password?

 Is there a path connecting two computers in a network?

 How can a circuit that adds two integers be designed?

 How many valid internet addresses are there?

 How can we encrypt credit card information on the web?

 What is the probability of winning a lottery?

 Recommended Books:
1) Discrete Mathematics and its application by Kenneth H.
Rosen, 8th edition.

2) Discrete Mathematics with applications by Susanna S.

Epp.

3) Discrete Mathematics by Ross and Wright

Main Topics:
1) Logic
2) Sets & Operations on sets
3) Relations & Their Properties
4) Functions
5) Sequences & Series
6) Recurrence Relations
7) Mathematical Induction
8) Methods of Proof
9) Combinatorics
10) Probability
11) Graphs and Trees
What is Discrete mathematics /
structures?
 The word discrete is essentially the opposite of
continuous, discontinuous or segregated.

 Definition:

“Discrete Mathematics/Structure concerns processes that

consist of a sequence of individual steps.”
Example:

Discrete
Continuous
Example:
 Set of Integers:
• • • • • •
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2

 Set of Real Numbers:

• • • • • • •
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
Odometer
Logic
 Logic rules and principles is to distinguish an argument is
valid or invalid.

 Def:
“Logic is the study of the principles and methods that
distinguishes between a valid and an invalid argument.”
 PROPOSITION
 A statement/proposition is a declarative sentence which is either TRUE
or FALSE but not both.
 Example:
2+2 = 4
It is Sunday today
 If a proposition is true, we say that it has a truth value of "true”.
If a proposition is false, its truth value is "false".
The truth values “true” and “false” are, respectively, denoted by the
letters T and F.
 Besides the importance of logic in understanding mathematical
reasoning, logic has numerous applications to computer science.
 These rules are used in the design of computer circuits, the construction
of computer programs, the verification of the correctness of programs,
and in many other ways.
Examples:
 Statement Truth Value

Grass is green.
4+2=6
4+2=7
There are four fingers in a hand.
 NOT Propositions
 Close the door.

 x is greater than 2. (where x can be smaller or greater)

 He is very rich (though is a declarative statement but we don’t

know about pronoun he)
 Rule:
If the sentence is preceded by other sentences that make
the pronoun or variable reference clear, then the sentence
is a statement.

 Example
Bill Gates is an American
He is very rich
He is very rich is a statement with truth-value TRUE.
 Example:
x=1
x>2
x > 2 is a statement with truth-value FALSE.
 UNDERSTANDING STATEMENTS

 x + 2 is positive.
 May I come in?
 Logic is interesting.
 It is hot today.
 -1 > 0
 x + y = 12
 COMPOUND STATEMENT
 A compound statement is a sentence that consists of two or
more statements separated by logical connectors.
 AND, OR, NOT are called LOGICAL CONNECTORS.
 “Simple statements could be used to build a compound
statement.”

 Examples:
“3 + 2 = 5” and “Lahore is a city in Pakistan”
“The grass is green” or “ It is hot today”
“Discrete Structure is not difficult to me”
 SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION
 Statements are symbolically represented by letters such as
p, q, r,...

 EXAMPLES:

p = “Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan”

q = “17 is divisible by 3”
 LOGICAL CONNECTORS
CONNECTIV MEANIN SYMBOL CALLED
G
Negation not ~ Tilde
Conjunction and  Hat
Disjunction or  Vel
Conditional if…then…  Arrow
Biconditional if and only  Double
if arrow
EXAMPLES:
p = “Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan”
q = “17 is divisible by 3”

p  q = “Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and 17 is

divisible by 3”
p  q = “Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan or 17 is
divisible by 3”
~p = “It is not the case that Islamabad is the capital of
Pakistan” or simply “Islamabad is not the capital of
Pakistan”
 TRANSLATING FROM ENGLISH TO SYMBOLS:

 Let p = “It is hot”, and q = “It is sunny”

 SENTENCE SYMBOLIC FORM

It is not hot.
It is hot and sunny.
It is hot or sunny.
It is not hot but sunny.
It is neither hot nor sunny.
 EXAMPLE:
 Let h = “Ali is healthy”
w = “Ali is wealthy”
s = “Ali is wise”

SENTENCE SYMBOLIC FORM

Ali is healthy and wealthy but not wise.
Ali is not wealthy but he is healthy and wise.
Ali is neither healthy, wealthy nor wise.
 TRANSLATING FROM SYMBOLS TO
ENGLISH
Let m = “Ali is good in Mathematics”
c = “Ali is a Computer Science student”

SYMBOLIC FORM STATEMENTS

~c
cm
m  ~c
 TRUTH TABLE
 A convenient method for analyzing a compound statement
is to make a truth table for it.

 A truth table specifies the truth value of a compound

proposition for all possible truth values of its constituent
propositions.
 NEGATION (~)
 If p is a statement variable, then negation of p, “not p”, is
denoted as “~p”

 It has opposite truth value from p i.e.,

if p is true, ~p is false; if p is false, ~p is true.
TRUTH TABLE FOR ~p

p ~p

T F

F T
 CONJUCTION ()
 If p and q are statements, then the conjunction of p and q
is “p and q”, denoted as “p  q”.

 It is true when, and only when, both p and q are true. If

either p or q is false, or if both are false, p  q is false.
TRUTH TABLE FOR (p  q)

p q pq
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F F
 DISJUNCTION ()
 If p & q are statements, then the disjunction of p and q is
“p or q”, denoted as “p  q”.

 It is true when at least one of p or q is true and is false

only when both p and q are false.
TRUTH TABLE FOR (p  q)
p q pq
T T T
T F T
F T T
F F F
 Truth tables
 Truth tables for:
~pq
~ p  (q  ~ r)
(p  q)  ~ (p  q)
Truth table for the statement form ~ p  q

p q ~p ~pq
T T F F

T F F F

F T T T

F F T F
Truth table for ~ p  (q  ~ r)
p q r ~r q~r ~p ~ p  (q  ~ r)
T T T F T F F
T T F T T F F
T F T F F F F
T F F T T F F
F T T F T T T
F T F T T T T
F F T F F T F
F F F T T T T
Truth table for (p  q)  ~ (p  q)
p q p  q p  q ~ (pq) (p  q)  ~ (p  q)
T T T T F F
T F T F T T
F T T F T T
F F F F T F
Double Negative Property ~(~p)  p
p ~p ~(~p)
T F T
F T F
Example:
 “It is not true that I am not happy”
 Prove it double negation property for the above statement
~ (~p)  p
 Solution:
Let p = “I am happy”
Then ~p = “I am not happy”
and ~(~ p) = “It is not true that I am not happy”
Since ~ (~p)  p
Hence the given statement is equivalent to:
“I am happy”
~ (p  q) and ~p  ~q are not logically
equivalent

p q ~p ~q pq ~(pq) ~p  ~q
T T F F T F F
T F F T F T F
F T T F F T F
F F T T F T T
DE MORGAN’S LAWS:
 The negation of an and statement is logically equivalent
to the or statement in which each component is negated.
Symbolically: ~(p  q)  ~p  ~q.

 The negation of an or statement is logically equivalent to

the and statement in which each component is negated.
Symbolically: ~(p  q)  ~p  ~q.
Truth Table for ~(p  q)  ~p  ~q

p q ~p ~q p  q ~(p  q) ~p  ~q
T T F F T F F
T F F T T F F
F T T F T F F
F F T T F T T
 Application of De morgan’s Law using
statements:
 Give negations for each of the following statements:
The fan is slow or it is very hot.
Akram is unfit and Saleem is injured.

 Solution:
The fan is not slow and it is not very hot.
Akram is not unfit or Saleem is not injured.
Exercise:
Associative Law

 Are the statements (p  q)  r  p  (q  r)?

 Are the statements (p  q)  r  p  (q  r) logically
equivalent?
 TAUTOLOGY:
 A tautology is a statement form that is always true
regardless of the truth values of the statement variables.
 A tautology is represented by the symbol “T”..

 EXAMPLE:
The statement form p  ~ p is tautology
p ~p p~p
T F T
F T T

p  ~p  t
CONTRADICTION:
 A contradiction is a statement form that is always false
regardless of the truth values of the statement variables.
 A contradiction is represented by the symbol “c”.

 Note:
So if we have to prove that a given statement form is
CONTRADICTION we will make the truth table for the
statement form and if in the column of the given statement
form all the entries are F ,then we say that statement form
is contradiction.
EXAMPLE:
 The statement form p  ~ p is a contradiction.

p ~p p~p
T F F
F T F

 Since in the last column in the truth table we have F in all

the entries so is a contradiction
p  ~p c
HOME Work

 (p˄q)˅(̴ p˅(P˅ ̴ q)) ≡ t

 (p˄ ̴ q)˄ (̴ P˅ q)) ≡ c
REMARKS:

 Most statements are neither tautologies nor contradictions.

 The negation of a tautology is a contradiction and vice
versa.
 LOGICAL EQUIVALENCE INVOLVING
TAUTOLOGY
 Show that p  t  p

p t pt
T T T
F T F

 Since in the above table the entries in the first and last
columns are identical so we have the corresponding
statement forms are Logically Equivalent that is
ptp
 LOGICAL EQUIVALENCE INVOLVING
CONTRADICTION
 Show that p  c  c
p c pc
T F F
F F F

 Same truth values in the indicated columns so pc  c

 EXERCISE:
 Use truth table to show that (p  q)  (~p  (p  ~q)) is a
tautology.

 Use truth table to show that (p  ~q)  (~p  q) is a

contradiction.
 INEQUALITIES AND DEMORGAN’S
LAWS
 Use De-Morgan’s Laws to write the negation of
-1 < x  4
-1 < x  4 means x > –1 and x  4

By DeMorgan’s Law, the negation is:

x > –1 or x  4
Which is equivalent to: x  –1 or x > 4
 LAWS OF LOGIC
 Given any statement variables p, q and r, a tautology t and
a contradiction c, the following logical equivalences hold:

 Commutative Laws: pqqp

pqqp

 Associative Laws: (p  q)  r  p  (q  r)
(p  q)  r  p  (q  r)
 Distributive Law: p  (q  r)  (p  q)  (p  r)
p  (q  r)  (p  q)  (p  r)

 Identity Laws: ptp

pcp

 Negation Laws: p~pt

p~pc
 Double Negation Law: ~ (~p)  p

 Idempotent Laws: ppp

ppp

 De Morgan’s Laws: ~(p  q)  ~p  ~q

~(p  q)  ~p  ~q
 Universal Bound Law: ptt
pcc

 Absorptions Laws: p  (p  q)  p
p  (p  q)  p

 Negation of t and c: ~tc

~ct