The Foundations: Logic and

Proofs
Propositional Logic
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) Washington, D.C. has been the federal capital of the United States.
b) Amsterdam is the capital city and most populous city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
c) 1+0=1
d) 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

and
 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
or
 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.
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 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 where “iff” stands for “if and only if”
Truth Tables For Compound
Propositions
 Construction of a truth table:
 Rows
 Need a row for every possible combination of values for the atomic
propositions.
 Columns
 Need a column for the compound proposition (usually at far right)
 Need a column for the truth value of each expression that occurs in the
compound proposition as it is built up.
 This includes the atomic propositions
 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 not equivalent to
the contrapositive.
Solution:

p q ¬p ¬q p ↔q ¬q → ¬ p
T T F F T T
T F F T F F
F T T F F 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 F 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.
Applications of
Propositional Logic
Applications of Propositional Logic:

 Translating English to Propositional Logic

 System Specifications
 Boolean Searching
 Logic Puzzles
 Logic Circuits
 AI Diagnosis Method (Optional)
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 or to the country, I will not go shopping.”
 p: I go to Harry’s
 q: I go to the country.
 r: I will go shopping.

If p or q then not
r.
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
Consistent System Specifications

Definition: A list of propositions is consistent if it is possible to assign truth values to

the proposition variables so that each proposition is true.
Exercise: Are these specifications consistent?
 “The diagnostic message is stored in the buffer or it is retransmitted.”
 “The diagnostic message is not stored in the buffer.”
 “If the diagnostic message is stored in the buffer, then it is retransmitted.”
Solution: Let p denote “The diagnostic message is not stored in the
buffer.” Let q denote “The diagnostic message is retransmitted” The
specification can be written as: p ∨ q, p→ q, ¬p. When p is false and q
is true all three statements are true. So the specification is consistent.
 What if “The diagnostic message is not retransmitted is added.”
Solution: Now we are adding ¬q and there is no satisfying assignment. So
the specification is not consistent.
Logic Puzzles
Raymond
Smullyan
(Born
1919) tell the truth, and
 An island has two kinds of inhabitants, knights, who always
knaves, who always lie.
 You go to the island and meet A and B.
 A says “B is a knight.”
 B says “The two of us are of opposite types.”
Example: What are the types of A and B?
Solution: Let p and q be the statements that A is a knight and B is a knight,
respectively. So, then p represents the proposition that A is a knave and q
that B is a knave.
 If A is a knight, then p is true. Since knights tell the truth, q must also be true. Then (p ∧
 q)∨ ( p ∧ q) would have to be true, but it is not. So, A is not a knight and therefore
p must be true.
 If A is a knave, then B must not be a knight since knaves always lie. So, then both p
and q hold since both are knaves.
Logic Circuits

 Electronic circuits; each input/output signal can be viewed as a 0 or 1.

 0 represents False
 1 represents True
 Complicated circuits are constructed from three basic circuits called gates.

 The inverter (NOT gate)takes an input bit and produces the negation of that bit.
 The OR gate takes two input bits and produces the value equivalent to the disjunction of the two
bits.
 The AND gate takes two input bits and produces the value equivalent to the conjunction of the two
bits.
 More complicated digital circuits can be constructed by combining these basic circuits to
produce the desired output given the input signals by building a circuit for each piece of
the output expression and then combining them. For example:
Diagnosis of Faults in an Electrical
System (Optional)
 AI Example (from Artificial Intelligence: Foundations of Computational
Agents by David Poole and Alan Mackworth, 2010)
 Need to represent in propositional logic the features of a piece of
machinery or circuitry that are required for the operation to produce
observable features. This is called the Knowledge Base (KB).
 We also have observations representing the features that the system is
exhibiting now.
Electrical System Diagram (optional)
Outside
s1 cb1 Power

Have lights (l1, l2),

w1 wires (w0, w1, w2, w3,
w3 w4), switches (s1, s2,
w2 s3), and circuit
breakers (cb1)
s2 s3

w0 w4 The next page gives the

knowledge base
describing the circuit
l1 and the current
observations.
l2
Representing the Electrical System in
Propositional Logic
 We need to represent our common-sense understanding of how the
electrical system works in propositional logic.
 For example: “If l1 is a light and if l1 is receiving current, then l1 is lit.
 lit_l1 → light_l1  live_l1  ok_l1
 Also: “If w1 has current, and switch s2 is in the up position, and s2 is not
broken, then w0 has current.”
 live_w0 → live_w1  up_s2  ok_s2
 This task of representing a piece of our common-sense world in logic is a
common one in logic-based AI.
Knowledge Base (opt)

 live_outside We have outside power.

 light_l1 Both l1 and l2 are lights.
 light_l2
 live_l1 → live_w0
 live_w0 → live_w1  up_s2  ok_s2
If s2 is ok and s2 is in a
 live_w0 → live_w2  down_s2  ok_s2
down position and w2
 live_w1 → live_w3  up_s1  ok_s1
has current, then w0 has
 live_w2 → live_w3  down_s1  ok_s1
current.
 live_l2 → live_w4
 live_w4 → live_w3  up_s3  ok_s3
 live_w3 → live_outside  ok_cb1
 lit_l1 → light_l1  live_l1  ok_l1
 lit_l2 → light_l2  live_l2  ok_l2
Observations (opt)

 Observations need to be added to the KB

 Both Switches up
 up_s1
 up_s2

 Both lights are dark

 lit_l1
  lit_l2
Diagnosis (opt)

 We assume that the components are working ok, unless we are forced to
assume otherwise. These atoms are called assumables.
 The assumables (ok_cb1, ok_s1, ok_s2, ok_s3, ok_l1, ok_l2) represent the
assumption that we assume that the switches, lights, and circuit breakers are ok.
 If the system is working correctly (all assumables are true), the observations and
the knowledge base are consistent (i.e., satisfiable).
 The augmented knowledge base is clearly not consistent if the assumables are
all true. The switches are both up, but the lights are not lit. Some of the
assumables must then be false. This is the basis for the method to diagnose
possible faults in the system.
 A diagnosis is a minimal set of assumables which must be false to explain the
observations of the system.
Diagnostic Results (opt)

 See Artificial Intelligence: Foundations of Computational Agents (by David Poole and
Alan Mackworth, 2010) for details on this problem and how the method of
consistency based diagnosis can determine possible diagnoses for the electrical
system.
 The approach yields 7 possible faults in the system. At least one of these must hold:
 Circuit Breaker 1 is not ok.
 Both Switch 1 and Switch 2 are not ok.
 Both Switch 1 and Light 2 are not ok.
 Both Switch 2 and Switch 3 are not ok.
 Both Switch 2 and Light 2 are not ok.
 Both Light 1 and Switch 3 are not ok.
 Both Light 1 and Light 2 are not ok.