Propositional Logic
Propositions
A proposition is a declarative sentence that is either true or false.
Examples of propositions:
o The Moon is made of green cheese.
o Richmond is the capital of Virginia
o 1+0=1
o 0+0=2
Examples that are not propositions:
o What time is it?
o Sit down.
o Great! Wonderful! Wow!
o x+1=2
o x+y=z
Propositional Logic
Constructing Propositions:
To construct propositions, we use propositional variables like, p, q, r, s, t, v, …
Please note, the proposition that is always true is denoted by T and the proposition that is
always false is denoted by F.
Compound Propositions are constructed from logical connectives and other propositions. The
logical connectives are:
o Negation ¬
o Conjunction ∧
o Disjunction ∨
o Implication →
o Biconditional ↔
Negation
The negation of a proposition p is denoted by ¬p and has this truth table:
Example: If p denotes “The earth is round.”, then ¬p denotes “It is not the case that the earth
is round,” or more simply “The earth is not round.”
Conjunction
The conjunction of propositions p and q is denoted by p ∧ q and has this truth table:
Example: If p denotes “I am at home.” and q denotes “It is raining.” then p ∧q denotes “I am
at home and it is raining.”
Disjunction
The disjunction of propositions p and q is denoted by p ∨q and has this truth table:
Example: If p denotes “I am at home.” and q denotes “It is raining.” then p ∨q denotes “I am at
home or it is raining.”
The Connective Or in English
In English “or” has two distinct meanings.
o “Inclusive Or” - In the sentence “Students who have taken CS202 or Math120 may take
this class,” we assume that students need to have taken one of the prerequisites, but
may have taken both. This is the meaning of disjunction. For p ∨ q to be true, either one
or both of p and q must be true.
o “Exclusive Or” - When reading the sentence “Soup or salad comes with this entrée,” we
do not expect to be able to get both soup and salad. This is the meaning of Exclusive Or
(Xor). In p ⊕ q , one of p and q must be true, but not both. The truth table for ⊕ is:
Implication
If p and q are propositions, then p →q is a conditional statement or implication which is read
as “if p, then q ” and has this truth table:
Example: If p denotes “I am at home.” and q denotes “It is raining.” then p →q denotes “If I am
at home then it is raining.”
In p →q , p is the hypothesis (antecedent or premise) and q is the conclusion (or consequence).
Understanding Implication
One way to view the implication (logical conditional) is to think of an obligation, like “If I am
elected, then I will lower taxes.”
Therefore, if the politician is elected and he/she does not lower taxes, then the voters can say
that he/she has broken the campaign pledge.
Different Ways of Expressing p →q
if p, then q p implies q
if p, q p only if q
q unless ¬p q when p
q if p q when p
q whenever p p is sufficient for q
q follows from p q is necessary for p
a necessary condition for p is q
a sufficient condition for q is p
Converse, Contrapositive, and Inverse
From the implication p →q, we can form new conditional statements, like:
o q →p is the converse of p →q
o ¬q → ¬ p is the contrapositive of p →q
o ¬ p → ¬ q is the inverse of p →q
Example: Find the converse, inverse, and contrapositive of “It raining is a sufficient condition for
my not going to town.”
Solution:
o converse: If I do not go to town, then it is raining.
o inverse: If it is not raining, then I will go to town.
o contrapositive: If I go to town, then it is not raining.
Biconditional
If p and q are propositions, then we can form the biconditional proposition p ↔q , read as “p
if and only if q .” The biconditional p ↔q denotes the proposition with this truth table:
If p denotes “I am at home.” and q denotes “It is raining.” then p ↔q denotes “I am at home
if and only if it is raining.”
Expressing the Biconditional
Some alternative ways of expressing the biconditional p ↔ q proposition:
o p is necessary and sufficient for q
o if p then q , and conversely
o p iff q
