Chapter 1, Part I: Propositional Logic

With Question/Answer Animations

Chapter Summary
 Propositional Logic
 The Language of Propositions
 Applications
 Logical Equivalences
 Predicate Logic
 The Language of Quantifiers
 Logical Equivalences
 Nested Quantifiers
 Proofs
 Rules of Inference
 Proof Methods
 Proof Strategy
Propositional Logic Summary
 The Language of Propositions
 Connectives
 Truth Values
 Truth Tables
 Applications
 Translating English Sentences
 System Specifications
 Logical Equivalences
 Important Equivalences
 Showing Equivalence
 Satisfiability
Section 1.1
Section Summary
 Propositions
 Connectives
 Negation
 Conjunction
 Disjunction
 Implication; contrapositive, inverse, converse
 Biconditional
 Truth Tables
Propositions
 A proposition is a declarative sentence that is either true or false.
 Examples of propositions:
a) The Moon is made of green cheese.
b) Trenton is the capital of New Jersey.
c) Toronto is the capital of Canada.
d) 1 + 0 = 1
e) 0 + 0 = 2
 Examples that are not propositions.
a) Sit down!
b) What time is it?
c) x+1=2
d) x + y = z
Propositional Logic
 Constructing Propositions
 Propositional Variables: p, q, r, s, …
 The proposition that is always true is denoted by T and
the proposition that is always false is denoted by F.
 Compound Propositions; constructed from logical
connectives and other propositions
 Negation ¬
 Conjunction ∧
 Disjunction ∨
 Implication →
 Biconditional
Compound Propositions: Negation
 The negation of a proposition p is denoted by ¬p and
has this truth table:
p ¬p
T F
F T

 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:
p q p∧q
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F F

 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:

p q p ∨q
T T T
T F T
F T T
F F F

 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.
 “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.
 “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:

p q p ⊕q
T T F
T F T
F T T
F F F
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:
p q p →q
T T T
T F F
F T T
F F T

 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
 In p →q there does not need to be any connection
between the antecedent or the consequent. The
“meaning” of p →q depends only on the truth values of
p and q.
 These implications are perfectly fine, but would not be
used in ordinary English.
 “If the moon is made of green cheese, then I have more
money than Bill Gates. ”
 “If the moon is made of green cheese then I’m on
welfare.”
 “If 1 + 1 = 3, then your grandma wears combat boots.”
Understanding Implication (cont)
 One way to view the logical conditional is to think of
an obligation or contract.
 “If I am elected, then I will lower taxes.”
 “If you get 100% on the final, then you will get an A.”
 If the politician is elected and does not lower taxes,
then the voters can say that he or she has broken the
campaign pledge. Something similar holds for the
professor. This corresponds to the case where p is true
and q is false.
Converse, Contrapositive, and Inverse
 From p →q we can form new conditional statements .
 q →p is the converse of p →q
 ¬q → ¬ p is the contrapositive of p →q
 ¬ 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:
converse: If I do not go to town, then it is raining.
inverse: If it is not raining, then I will go to town.
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:

p q p q
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F T

 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 “p if and only if q” is expressed
in English:

 p is necessary and sufficient for q

 if p then q , and conversely
 p iff q
Example Truth Table
 Construct a truth table for
p q r r pq p  q → r
T T T F T F
T T F T T T
T F T F T F
T F F T T T
F T T F T F
F T F T T T
F F T F F T
F F F T F T
Equivalent Propositions
 Two propositions are equivalent if they always have the
same truth value.
 Example: Show using a truth table that the
biconditional is equivalent to the contrapositive.
Solution: (this slide have error) the higlighted is
implication , not biconditional.
p q ¬p ¬q p →q ¬q → ¬ p
T T F F T T
T F F T F F
F T T F T T
F F T T T T
Using a Truth Table to Show Non-
Equivalence
Example: Show using truth tables that neither the
converse nor inverse of an implication are not
equivalent to the implication.
Solution:
p q ¬p ¬q p →q ¬ p →¬ q q→p
T T F F T T T
T F F T F T T
F T T F T F F
F F T T T T T
Precedence of Logical Operators
Operator Precedence
 1
 2
 3
→ 4
 5

p q → r is equivalent to (p q) → r
If the intended meaning is p (q → r )
then parentheses must be used.
Section 1.2
Applications of Propositional Logic:
Summary
 Translating English to Propositional Logic
 System Specifications
Translating English Sentences
 Steps to convert an English sentence to a statement in
propositional logic
 Identify atomic propositions and represent using
propositional variables.
 Determine appropriate logical connectives
 “If I go to Harry’s house or to the country, I will not go
shopping.”
 p: I go to Harry’s house If p or q then not r.
 q: I go to the country.
 r: I will go shopping.
Example
Problem: Translate the following sentence into
propositional logic:
“You can access the Internet from campus only if you are
a computer science major or you are not a freshman.”
One Solution: Let a, c, and f represent respectively
“You can access the internet from campus,” “You are a
computer science major,” and “You are a freshman.”
a→ (c ∨ ¬ f )
System Specifications
 System and Software engineers take requirements in
English and express them in a precise specification
language based on logic.
Example: Express in propositional logic:
“The automated reply cannot be sent when the file
system is full”
Solution: One possible solution: Let p denote “The
automated reply can be sent” and q denote “The file
system is full.”
q→ ¬ p