Chapter 2- Logical Reasoning

2.1 Statements and Logical Operators

 Logical Operator: a word or combination of words that combines one or more
mathematical statements to make a new mathematical statement.
 Compound Statement: a statement that contains one or more operators.
o Conjunction: the conjunction of statements P and Q is the statement “ P and Q”
and its denoted P ∧Q . The statement P ∧Q is true only when both P and Q are
true. Is false only when both P and Q are false.
o Disjunction: the disjunction of statements P and Q is the statement “ P or Q” and
it’s denoted by P ∨Q . The statement P ∨Q is true only when at least one of P or
Q is true.
o Negation: the negation of the statement P is the statement “not P” and is
denoted by ¬ P . The negation of P is true only when P is false, and ¬ P is false
only when P is true.
o Implication (or conditional): the implication or conditional is the statement “If P
then Q” and is demoted by P →Q . The statement P →Q is often read as “P
implies Q” and is only false when P is true, and Q is false.
 Tables on page 36.
 The Biconditional Statement: is a combination of a conditional statement and its
converse written in the if and only if form. Read as “P if and only of Q” and written as
P ↔Q or [(Q → P)∧( P → Q)].
 Tautology: a compound statement S that is true for all possible combinations of truth
values of the component statements that are part of S.
 Contradiction: a compound statement that is false for all possible combinations of truth
values of the component statements that are part of S.

2.2 Logically Equivalent Statements

 Logically Equivalent: two expressions are logically equivalent provided that they have
the same truth value for all possible combinations of truth values for all variables
appearing in the two expressions in this case we write X ≡Y and say that X and Y are
logically equivalent.
 Converse: the converse of the conditional statement P →Q is the conditional statement
Q → P.
 Contrapositive: the contrapositive of the conditional statement P →Q is the conditional
statement ¬Q → ¬ P
 Theorem: De Morgan's laws
o The statement ¬ ( P ∧Q )is logically equivalent to ¬ P ∨¬ Q. This can be written as
¬ ( P ∧Q ) ≡¬ P∨ ¬Q .
o The statement ¬ ( P ∨Q )is logically equivalent to ¬ P ∧¬ Q. This can be written as
¬ ( P ∨Q ) ≡¬ P∧ ¬Q .
  The negation of a conditional statement can be written as a conjunction.
¬ ( P → Q ) ≡ P∧ ¬Q .

Important Logical Equivalencies

De Morgan’s Laws ¬ ( P ∧Q ) ≡¬ P∨ ¬Q
¬ ( P ∨Q ) ≡¬ P∧ ¬Q
Conditional Statements P →Q ≡¬ Q→ ¬ P
P →Q ≡¬ P∨ Q
¬ ( P → Q ) ≡ P∧ ¬Q
Biconditional Statements P ↔Q ≡(P→ Q)∧(Q → P)
Double Negation ¬ (¬ P ) ≡ P
Distributive Laws P ∨ ( Q ∧ R ) ≡ ( P ∨Q ) ∧ ( P ∨ R )
P ∧ ( Q ∨ R ) ≡ ( P ∧Q ) ∨ ( P ∧ R )
Conditionals with Disjunctions P → ( Q ∨ R ) ≡ ( P ∧¬ Q ) → R
( P ∨Q¿→ R ) ≡ ( P→ R ) ∧ ( Q → R )

2.3 Open Statements and Sets

 Set: a well-defined collection of objects that can be thought of as a single entity itself.
 Rooster Method: listing the elements of a set inside braces.
 Variable: is a symbol representing an unspecified object that can be chosen from a given
set U.
 The Universal Set for the Variable (U): is the set of specified objects from which objects
may be chosen to substitute for the variable.
 Constant: a specified member of the universal set.
 Subset: the set A is a subset of the set B provided that each element of A is an element
of B. In this case, we write A ⊆ B and also say that A is contained in B or A is not a
subset of B, we write A ⊈ B .
 Open Sentence (also known as predicate or propositional function): is a sentence
P ( x 1 , x 2 , ⋯ , xn ) involving variables x 1 , x 2 ,⋯ , x n with property that when specific values
from the universal set are assigned to x 1 , x 2 ,⋯ , x n, then the resulting sentence is either
true or false.
 Truth Set of an Open Sentence with One Variable: is a collection of objects in the
universal set that can be substituted for the variable to make the predicate a true
statement.
 Set Builder Notation: in which this set is defined by stating a rule that all elements of the
set must satisfy. { x ∈ U |P ( x ) } read as “the set of all x such that P(x)”
 Empty Set: when a set contains no elements. The empty set is usually designated by the
symbol ∅ .

2.4 Quantifiers and Negations

 Universal Quantifier ( ∀ ): the phrase “for every” (or its equivalent) is called a universal
quantifier.
 Existential Quantifier (∃): the phrase “there exists” (or its equivalents) is called an
existential quantifier.
 Theorem: Negations of Quantified Statements
o ¬(∀ x ∈U )¿
o ¬(∃ x ∈U )¿
 Counterexample: an example that counters or goes against the statements conclusion.
In general, a counterexample to a statement of the form ( ∀ x ) [ P ( x ) ] is an object a in the
universal set U for which P ( a ) is false. Hence its negation, ( ∃ x ) [ P ( x ) ] is a true
statement.
 The symbolic form of the negation of a conditional statement it
¬ ( ∀ x ∈ U ) [ P ( x ) →Q ( x ) ] ≡ ( ∃ x ∈ U ) [ P ( x ) ∧¬Q ( x ) ]
 Perfect Square: a natural number n is a perfect square provided that there exists a
natural number k such that n=k 2. ( ∃ k ∈ N ) ( n=k 2 )
 When a statement contains more than one variable each variable must be quantified to
create a statement.
 Prime Number: a natural number p is a prime number provided that it is greater than
one and the only natural numbers that are factors of p are 1 and p.
 Composite Number: a natural number other than one that is not a prime number is a
composite number.
 The number one is neither prime nor composite.