Mathematical language and

symbols

Reference: Mathematics in the Modern world (Baltazar, ragaza, evangelista)

Essential mathematics for the modern world
Mathematical language

Mathematics is a system of communication about objects like

numbers, variables, sets, operations, functions and equations.
It is a collection of both symbols and their meaning shared by a global
community of people who have an interest in the subject.
Mathematics is a universal language, the only one shared by all
human beings regardless of culture, religion and gender.
Mathematical language

Language is a systematic means of communicating by the use of

sounds or conventional symbols.
It is the code humans use as a form of expressing themselves and
communicating others.
Characteristics of Mathematical language

✓ Mathematical language is precise.

✓ Concise
✓ powerful
Mathematical language and symbols

∑ - the sum of
N – set of natural number
Z – set of integers
Q – set of rational numbers
∃ − 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑖sts
∀ − 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 (𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑦)
∈ −𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 (𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓)
→ −𝑖𝑓 … , 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛
↔ −𝑖𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑓
Characteristics of Mathematical language

Letters often (but not always) have special uses as follows:

Start of the a, b, c For constants

alphabet (fixed values)
From i to n i, j, k ,n Positive integers
End of the x, y, z For unknown
alphabet variables
Parts of Speech for mathematics

Numbers – very first symbols that can be used to represent quantity.

Operation symbols – can act as connectives in a mathematical
sentence.
Relation symbols – are used for comparison and act as verbs in the
mathematical language.
Grouping symbols – are used to associate groups of numbers and
operators.
Variables – are the letters that represent quantities and act as
pronouns.
Proposition/statement

Proposition - express a Mathematical expression –

complete thought. objects of interest acting as
It is a declarative sentence the subject in the ordinary
or statement that is either language.
true or false but not both.
Ex. 9 is a prime number
5+3 = 8
𝑥 2 + 𝑦2 ≥ 0
logic

Allows to determine the variety of arguments in and out of

mathematics. The use of logic illustrates the importance of precision
and conciseness in communicating mathematics.
Mathematical logic

It represents the natural language and mathematical language with

symbols and variables
❑ A statement is an assertion which be regarded as true or false.
❑ A simple statement is a single statement which does not contain
other statements or parts.
❑ A compound statement contains two or more statements.
❑ A logical connectives combines simple statements into compound
statements.
The truth table

A truth table is a table that shows the truth value of a compound

statement for all possible truth values of its simple statements.

Negation – is a negation of another if the word not is introduced in

the negative statement.
Example
the negation of P is “not P” or ¬𝑃
The truth table
P ¬𝑷
T F
F T

Give the negation of the following

1. P: 2 is a rational number
2. R: 6 is an odd number.
Propositional logic and symbols
Connectives Propositional Symbols Example
logic
not negation ~ ~𝑃
And/but conjunction ^ p^q
or disjunction v pvq
implies conditional → p→ 𝑞
If and only if biconditional ↔ 𝑝↔𝑞
 Logical connectives

A logical connective is the mathematical equivalent of a conjunction

in English. The most common conjunctions in mathematics are “and”
and “or”, which are denoted by ^ and v
Let P and Q be propositions.
1. Conjunction P ^ Q P and Q True if and only if P and Q are both true.
2. Disjunction P v Q P or Q True if and only if P is true or Q is true
or both are true.
3. Implication P→Q P implies Q True under all circumstances except
when
if P then Q P is true and Q is false
Q if P
 Logical connectives
4. Biconditional or biimplication P↔ 𝑄 P if and only if Q
True if and only if P and Q are both true or both false

P Q P^Q PvQ
F F
F T
T F
T T
Logical connectives
Example: Write the following in symbolic for using P, Q and R for
statements and the symbols ¬, →, ↔, v , ^ where
P: Pres. Duterte is a good president.
Q: Government officials are corrupt.
R: People are happy.
1. If Pres. Duterte is a good president, then government officials are
not corrupt.
2. If government officials are not corrupt, then the people are happy
3. If pres. Duterte is a good president and people are happy, then the
government officials are not corrupt.
4. Pres Duterte is not a good president if and only if government
officials are corrupt and the people are not happy.
Logical connectives
Example: Give the equivalent statements of the following symbols then
identify if the statement is true or false.
P: The sun is shining.
Q: It is raining.
R: The ground is wet.
1. P ^ Q
2. P v Q
3. P → Q
4. P ↔ Q
5. Q ↔ R
Logical connectives
Example: consider the following statements.
p: Marie is not happy.
q: Marie is going to watch a volleyball game.
r: It is going to rain.
s: Today is Saturday.
1. Today is Saturday and Marie is not happy.
2. Today is Saturday and Marie is not going to watch a volleyball game.
3. If it is going to rain, then Marie is not going to watch the volleyball
game.
4. Marie is going to watch the volleyball game if and only if she is
happy.
Forms of conditional statements
Given an if-then statement “if P, then Q” we can create three related
statements: converse, inverse, contrapositive.
Suppose P and Q are propositions. Given the implication P→Q. Its
converse is Q →P, its inverse is ¬𝑃 → ¬𝑄, and its contrapositive is
¬𝑄 → ¬𝑃.

That is
Given: If P then Q
Inverse: If not P then not Q
Converse: If Q then P
Contrapositive: If not Q then not P
Logical connectives
Example: Give the inverse, converse and contrapositive of the
propositions below.
1. P: Pres. Duterte is a good president.
Q: People are happy.
P→ 𝑄: If Pres. Duterte is a good president, then the people are happy.

2. If this movie is interesting, then I am watching it.

3. If p is a prime number, then it is odd.
Logical connectives
Example: Let P and Q are propositions “Today is Friday” and “It is
raining today”, respectively. Find,
1. P^ Q
2. P v Q
3. P→ 𝑄
4. 𝑃 ↔ 𝑄
5. Inverse
6. Converse
7. contrapositive
Logical connectives
Write the converse, inverse and contrapositive of the following
sentences.
1. She is allowed to join the volleyball team, only if she knows how to
receive the ball.
2. Every rectangle is a parallelogram.
Truth tables
It is a summary of all possible values of a statement.
Ex.
Assertion Negation conjunctio
p p ¬p pn q p^q
T T F T T T
F F T F T F
Compound statements
➢ In mathematics, statements expressed in different ways are
considered to be equivalent if they have the same truth value.
➢ Compound statements are complex statements built up on two
simple statements by using connectives. In joining two statements,
parenthesis is used to enclose a single statement.
➢ The truth table of a compound statement involving two or more
statements can be constructed from the truth tables of each of the
simple statements
➢ Ex. 𝑝v𝑞 ^¬𝑝
Compound statements
➢ Ex. ¬𝑝𝑣(¬𝑞 → 𝑝)
➢ If the truth value of a compound statement is always true regardless
of the truth values of each of the component statements, then the
statement is said to be tautology.
➢ If the truth value of a compound statement is always is false,
regardless of the truth values of each of the component statements,
then the statement is a contradiction.
➢ A contingency is a statement that is neither tautology nor
contradiction
Compound statements
➢ Ex. ¬𝑝 ∨ 𝑝
➢ 𝑝 ∧ ~𝑞
➢ 𝑟→𝑠 ∨ 𝑠→𝑟
Logical Equivalence
➢ Two mathematical statements are logically equivalent if the final
output of their truth tables are exactly the same.
➢ If P and Q are compound statements, then P and Q are logically
equivalent if and only if 𝑝 ↔ 𝑞.

➢ Verify if the statements 𝑝 → 𝑞 and ¬𝑝𝑣𝑞 are logically equivalent.

Quantifiers
Quantifiers are used to describe the variable/s in a statement.
Types:
1. The universal quantifier usually written in the English language as
“for all” or “for every”. It is denoted by the symbol ∀.
2. The existential quantifier expressed in words as “there exists” or
“for some”. This quantifier is denoted as ∃.
Quantifiers
Ex. Write the English sentence and determine if it is true or false.
1. ∀𝑥 ∈ R, ∃𝑦 ∈ R, 𝑥 + 𝑦 = 10
For every real number x, there exists a real number y such that the sum
of x and y is equal to 10.
2. ∀𝑥 ∈ 𝑍 + , ∃𝑦 ∈ R, 𝑦 2 = 𝑥

For every positive integer x, there exists a real number y such that the
square of y is equal to x.