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Propositional Logic
Last Updated : 16 Aug, 2025
Logic is the basis of all mathematical reasoning and all automated reasoning. The
rules of logic specify the meaning of mathematical statements. In simple terms:
• It’s the science of thinking correctly.
• It helps us figure out whether something makes sense or not.
• It’s used in mathematics, philosophy, computer science, and in everyday life
decisions.
Types of Propositions
In propositional logic, propositions are statements that can be evaluated as true or
false. They are the building blocks of more complex logical statements. Here's a
breakdown of the two main types of propositions:
• Atomic Propositions
• Compound Propositions
Propositional Logic
Propositional logic is a branch of mathematics that studies the logical relationships
between propositions (or statements, sentences, assertions) taken as a whole, and
connected via logical connectives.
Example:
1. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West.
2. 1 + 1 = 2
3. 'b' is a vowel.
Above 3 sentences are propositions, where the first two are Valid(True) and the
third one is Invalid(False).
All of the above sentences are propositions, where the first two are Valid(True)
and the third one is Invalid(False). Some sentences that do not have a truth value or
may have more than one truth value are not propositions.
Example,
• What time is it?
• Go out and Play
• x+1=2
The first two sentences are not propositions because they have no truth value, and
the third may be true or false. To represent propositions, we use propositional
variables (like p, q, r, s). The branch of logic that studies propositions is called
propositional logic or propositional calculus. It also deals with forming new
propositions from existing ones. Propositions made from one or more propositions
are called compound propositions, and they are joined using logical connectives
(or operators).
Truth Table of Propositional Logic
Since we need to know the truth value of a proposition in all possible scenarios, we
consider all the possible combinations of the propositions which are joined
together by Logical Connectives to form the given compound proposition. This
compilation of all possible scenarios in a tabular format is called a truth table.
Most Common Logical Connectives-
1. Negation
If p p is a proposition, then the negation of p p is denoted by ¬p ¬p , which
when translated to simple English means- "It is not the case that p" or simply
"not p". The truth value of -p is the opposite of the truth value of p. The truth table
of -p is:
p ¬p
TF
FT
Example, Negation of "It is raining today", is "It is not the case that is raining
today" or simply "It is not raining today".
2. Conjunction
For any two propositions p p and q q , their conjunction is denoted
by p∧q p∧q , which means "p p and q q ". The conjunction p∧q p∧q is
True when both p p and q q are True, otherwise False. The truth table
of p∧q p∧q is:
pqp∧q
TTT
TFF
FTF
FFF
Example, Conjunction of the propositions p p - "Today is Friday" and q q -
"It is raining today", p∧q p∧q is "Today is Friday and it is raining today". This
proposition is true only on rainy Fridays and is false on any other rainy day or on
Fridays when it does not rain.
3. Disjunction
For any two propositions p p and q q , their disjunction is denoted
by p∨q p∨q , which means "p p or q q ". The disjunction p∨q p∨q is True
when either p p or q q is True, otherwise False. The truth table
of p∨q p∨q is:
pqp∨q
TTT
TFT
FTT
FFF
Example, Disjunction of the propositions p p - "Today is Friday" and q q - "It
is raining today", p∨q p∨q is "Today is Friday or it is raining today". This
proposition is true on any day that is a Friday or a rainy day(including rainy
Fridays) and is false on any day other than Friday when it also does not rain.
4. Exclusive Or
For any two propositions p p and q q , their exclusive or is denoted
by p⊕q p⊕q , which means "either p p or q q but not both". The exclusive
or p⊕q p⊕q is True when either p p or q q is True, and False when both
are true or both are false. The truth table of p⊕q p⊕q is:
pqp⊕q
TTF
TFT
FTT
FFF
Example, Exclusive or of the propositions p p - "Today is Friday" and q q -
"It is raining today", p⊕q p⊕q is "Either today is Friday or it is raining today,
but not both". This proposition is true on any day that is a Friday or a rainy day(not
including rainy Fridays) and is false on any day other than Friday when it does not
rain or rainy Fridays.
5. Implication
For any two propositions p p and q q , the statement "if p p then q q " is
called an implication and it is denoted by p→q p→q . In the
implication p→q p→q , p p is called the hypothesis or antecedent or
premise and q q is called the conclusion or consequence. The implication
is p→q p→q is also called a conditional statement. The implication is false
when p p is true and q q is false otherwise it is true. The truth table
of p→q p→q is:
pqp→q
TTT
TFF
FTT
FFT
One might wonder that why is p→q p→q true when p p is false. This is
because the implication guarantees that when p p and q q are true then the
implication is true. But the implication does not guarantee anything when the
premise p p is false. There is no way of knowing whether or not the implication
is false since p p did not happen. This situation is similar to the "Innocent until
proven Guilty" stance, which means that the implication p→q p→q is
considered true until proven false. Since we cannot call the
implication p→q p→q false when p p is false, our only alternative is to call it
true.
This follows from the Explosion Principle which says: "A False statement implies
anything" Conditional statements play a very important role in mathematical
reasoning, thus a variety of terminology is used to express p→q p→q , some of
which are listed below.
"If p, then "q"p is sufficient for q""q when p""a necessary condition for p is q""p
only if q""q unless ≠p""q follows from p"
Example, "If it is Friday then it is raining today" is a proposition which is of the
form p→q p→q . The above proposition is true if it is not Friday(premise is
false) or if it is Friday and it is raining, and it is false when it is Friday but it is not
raining.
6. Biconditional or Double Implication
For any two propositions p p and q q , the statement "p p if and only
if(iff) q q " is called a biconditional and it is denoted by p↔q p↔q . The
statement p↔q p↔q is also called a bi-implication. p↔q p↔q has the same
truth value as (p→q)∧(q→p) (p→q)∧(q→p) The implication is true
when p p and q q have same truth values, and is false otherwise. The truth
table of p↔q p↔q is:
pqp↔q
TTT
TFF
FTF
FFT
Some other common ways of expressing p↔q p↔q are:
"p is necessary and sufficient for q""if p then q, and conversely""p if q"
Example, "It is raining today if and only if it is Friday today." is a proposition
which is of the form p↔q p↔q . The above proposition is true if it is not Friday
and it is not raining or if it is Friday and it is raining, and it is false when it is not
Friday or it is not raining.
Application of propostional Logic
• Mathematics – Proving theorems and solving problems.
• Computer Science – Designing algorithms, programming, and databases.
• Digital Circuits – Designing and analyzing logic gates.
• Artificial Intelligence – Knowledge representation and reasoning.
• Decision Making – Drawing correct conclusions from facts.
• Linguistics – Analyzing sentence structure and meaning.
Propositional Logic Examples
1) Consider the following statements:
• P: Good mobile phones are not cheap.
• Q: Cheap mobile phones are not good.
• L: P implies Q
• M: Q implies P
• N: P is equivalent to Q
Which one of the following about L, M, and N is CORRECT?
(A) Only L is TRUE.
(B) Only M is TRUE.
(C) Only N is TRUE.
(D) L, M and N are TRUE.
Solution:
Let a and b be two proposition
a: Good Mobile phones.
b: Cheap Mobile Phones.
P and Q can be written in logic as
P: a-->~b
Q: b-->~a.
Truth Table
a b ~a ~b P Q
TTFFFF
TFFTTT
FTTFTT
FFTTTT
it clearly shows P and Q are equivalent.
so option D is Correct
2) Which one of the following is not equivalent to p <-> q
(A)(¬p∨q)∧(p∨¬q)(B)(¬p∨q)∧(q→p)(C)(¬p∧q)∨(p∧¬q)(D)(¬p∧¬q)∨(p∧q) (A)(¬
p∨q)∧(p∨¬q)(B)(¬p∨q)∧(q→p)(C)(¬p∧q)∨(p∧¬q)(D)(¬p∧¬q)∨(p∧q)
Conjunction of p and q, denoted by p∧q, is the proposition ‘p and q’. The
conjunction p ∧ q is True, when both p and q is True. Disjunction of p and q,
denoted by p∨q, is the proposition ‘p or q’. The disjunction p∨q is False when both
p and q is False.
Logical Implication - It is a type of relationship between two statements or
sentence. Denoted by ‘p → q’. The conditional statement p → q is false when p is
true and q is false, and true otherwise. i.e. p → q = ¬p ∨ q
Bi-Condition A bi-conditional statement is a compound statement formed by
combining two conditionals under “and.” Bi-conditionals are true when both
statements have the exact same truth value.
Solution:
p↔q means both p→q and q→p p→q is equivalent to ⌉p ∨ q and q is equivalent to
⌉q ∨ p So A and B are fine. D is a different way of writing A p ↔ q = (p→ q) ∧
(q→p) = (⌉p ∨ q) ∧ (q → p) [ Since p→ q = ⌉p ∨ q ] = (⌉p ∨ q) ∧ (⌉q ∨ p) = (¬p ∧ p
)∨ (¬p ∧¬q )∨ (q ∧p ) ∨(q ∧¬q ) (Distributive law) [As ((¬p∧ p )=0,(q ∧¬q )=0)
(Complementation) ] (⌉p ∧ ⌉q) ∨ (p ∧ q) which is Option (D) Only option which is
not equivalent to p↔q is option (C). So, option (C) is correct.
Unsolved Question on Proposition Logic
Question 1:
Given:
P: “It is raining” (r)
Q: “The ground is wet” (w)
Check if the statement
(r→w)∧(w→r)(r→w)∧(w→r)
is logically equivalent to ¬r∨w¬r∨w Justify with truth table
Question 2: Simplify (p∨q) ∧(¬p∨q) to an equivalent expression using logical
laws.
Question 3: Let:
P: "If I study, I will pass." (s→p)
Q: "If I do not pass, then I did not study." (¬p→¬s)
R: "If I pass, then I studied." (p→s)
Which of the following is true?
(A) P and Q are equivalent, but not R
(B) P and R are equivalent, but not Q
(C) All three are equivalent
(D) None are equivalent
Question 4: Given:P:p→(q∨r), Q:(p→q)∨(p→r). Are P and Q logically
equivalent? Justify using a truth table.
