Chapter 1, Part I

Propositional Equivalences

With Question/Answer Animations

Chapter Summary
● Propositional Logic
● Predicate Logic
● Proofs
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Section 1.3 of Rosen’s Book
Section Summary
● Tautologies, Contradictions, and Contingencies.
● Logical Equivalence
● Important Logical Equivalences
● Showing Logical Equivalence

● Normal Forms (optional, covered in exercises in text)

● Disjunctive Normal Form
● Conjunctive Normal Form

● Propositional Satisfiability
● Sudoku Example

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Tautologies, Contradictions, and Contingencies
A tautology is a proposition which is always true.
● Example: p ∨¬p

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Tautologies, Contradictions, and Contingencies
A contradiction is a proposition which is always false.
● Example: p ∧¬p

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Tautologies, Contradictions, and Contingencies
A contingency is a proposition which is neither a
tautology nor a contradiction, such as p

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Tautologies, Contradictions, and Contingencies

p ¬p p ∨¬p p ∧¬p

T F T F

F T T F

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Logically Equivalent
p and q are logically equivalent if p↔q is a tautology.

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Logically Equivalent
p and q are logically equivalent if p↔q is a tautology.

¬p ∨ q is equivalent to p → q.

p q ¬p ¬p ∨ q p→ q
T T F T T
T F F F F
F T T T T
F F T T T

(¬p ∨ q) ≡ (p → q)
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 De Morgan’s Laws
Augustus De Morgan

1806-1871

This truth table shows that De Morgan’s Second Law holds.

p q ¬p ¬q (p∨q) ¬(p∨q) ¬p∧¬q

T T F F T F F
T F F T T F F
F T T F T F F
F F T T F T T

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Key Logical Equivalences
● Identity Laws: ,

● Domination Laws: ,

● Idempotent laws: ,

● Double Negation Law:

● Negation Laws: ,
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Key Logical Equivalences (cont)
● Commutative Laws: ,

● Associative Laws:

● Distributive Laws:

● Absorption Laws:

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More Logical Equivalences

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Equivalence Proofs
Example: Show that
is logically equivalent to
Solution:

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Equivalence Proofs
Example: Show that
is a tautology.
Solution:

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Disjunctive Normal Form (optional)
● A propositional formula is in disjunctive normal form if it
consists of a disjunction of (1, … ,n) disjuncts where each
disjunct consists of a conjunction of (1, …, m) atomic
formulas or the negation of an atomic formula.
● Yes A
(A ∧ ¬B) ∨ ( ¬C ∧ D ∧ E)
(C ∧ D) ∨ E

● No C ∧ (D ∨ E)
● Disjunctive Normal Form is important for the circuit
design methods.
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Disjunctive Normal Form (optional)
Example: Find the Disjunctive Normal Form (DNF) of
(p∨q)→¬r

Solution: This proposition is true when r is false or

when both p and q are false.
(¬ p∧ ¬ q) ∨ ¬r

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Conjunctive Normal Form (optional)
● A compound proposition is in Conjunctive Normal Form (CNF) if it
is a conjunction of disjunctions.
● Every proposition can be put in an equivalent CNF.
● Conjunctive Normal Form (CNF) can be obtained by eliminating
implications, moving negation inwards and using the distributive
and associative laws.
● Important in resolution theorem proving used in artificial
Intelligence (AI).
● A compound proposition can be put in conjunctive normal form
through repeated application of the logical equivalences covered
earlier.

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Conjunctive Normal Form (optional)
Example: Put the following into CNF:

Solution:
1. Eliminate implication signs:

2. Move negation inwards; eliminate double negation:

3. Convert to CNF using associative/distributive laws

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Propositional Satisfiability
● A compound proposition is satisfiable if there is an
assignment of truth values to its variables that make it
true.
● When no such assignments exist, the compound
proposition is unsatisfiable.

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Propositional Satisfiability
● A compound proposition is satisfiable if there is an
assignment of truth values to its variables that make it
true.
● When no such assignments exist, the compound
proposition is unsatisfiable.

A compound proposition is unsatisfiable

if and only if its negation is a tautology.

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Questions on Propositional
Satisfiability
Example: Determine the satisfiability of the following
compound propositions:

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Questions on Propositional
Satisfiability
Example: Determine the satisfiability of the following
compound propositions:

Solution:

Satisfiable. Assign T to p, q, and r.

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Questions on Propositional
Satisfiability

Example: Determine the satisfiability of the following

compound propositions:

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Questions on Propositional
Satisfiability

Example: Determine the satisfiability of the following

compound propositions:

Solution:

Satisfiable. Assign T to p and F to q.

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Questions on Propositional
Satisfiability
Example: Determine the satisfiability of the following
compound propositions:

Solution:
Not satisfiable.

Check each possible assignment of truth values to the

propositional variables and none will make the
proposition true.
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Notation

Needed for the next example.

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Sudoku
● A Sudoku puzzle is represented by a 9×9 grid made
up of nine 3×3 subgrids, known as blocks. Some of
the 81 cells of the puzzle are assigned one of the
numbers 1,2, …, 9.
● The puzzle is solved by assigning numbers to each
blank cell so that every row, column and block
contains each of the nine possible numbers.
● Example

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Encoding as a Satisfiability Problem
● Let p(i,j,n) denote the proposition that is true when
the number n is in the cell in the ith row and the jth
column.
● There are 9×9 × 9 = 729 such propositions.
● In the sample puzzle p(5,1,6) is true, but p(5,j,6) is
false for j = 2,3,…9

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Encoding (cont)
● For each cell with a given value, assert p(i,j,n), when
the cell in row i and column j has the given value.
● Assert that every row contains every number.

[(p(1,1,1)Vp(1,2,1)V… p(1,9,1))and(p(1,1,2)V…p(1,9,2))and…] and

[(p(2,1,1)Vp(2,2,1)V… p(2,9,1))and(p(2,1,2)V…p(2,9,2))and…] and
…
[(p(9,1,1)Vp(9,2,1)V… p(9,9,1))and(p(9,1,2)V…p(9,9,2))and…]

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Encoding (cont)
● For each cell with a given value, assert p(i,j,n), when
the cell in row i and column j has the given value.
● Assert that every column contains every number.

[(p(1,1,1)Vp(2,1,1)V… p(9,1,1))and(p(1,1,2)V…p(9,1,2))and…] and

[(p(1,2,1)Vp(2,2,1)V… p(9,2,1))and(p(1,2,2)V…p(9,2,2))and…] and
…
[(p(1,9,1)Vp(2,9,1)V… p(9,9,1))and(p(1,9,2)V…p(9,9,2))and…]

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Encoding (cont)
● Assert that each of the 3 x 3 blocks contain every
number.

(this is tricky - ideas from chapter 4 help)

[(p(1,1,1)Vp(1,2,1)Vp(1,3,1))and(p(2,1,1)Vp(2,2,1)Vp(2,3,1))and(p(3,1,1)Vp(3,2,1)Vp(3,3,1)) and
(p(1,1,2)Vp(1,2,2)Vp(1,3,2))and(p(2,1,2)Vp(2,2,2)Vp(2,3,2))and(p(3,1,2)Vp(3,2,2)Vp(3,3,2)) and
…
(p(1,1,9)Vp(1,2,9)Vp(1,3,9))and(p(2,1,9)Vp(2,2,9)Vp(2,3,9))and(p(3,1,9)Vp(3,2,9)Vp(3,3,9))] and
[(p(1,4,1)Vp(1,5,1)Vp(1,6,1))and(p(2,4,1)Vp(2,5,1)Vp(2,6,1))and(p(3,4,1)Vp(3,5,1)Vp(3,6,1)) and
(p(1,4,2)Vp(1,5,2)Vp(1,6,2))and(p(2,4,2)Vp(2,5,2)Vp(2,6,2))and(p(3,4,2)Vp(3,5,2)Vp(3,6,2)) and
…
(p(1,4,9)Vp(1,5,9)Vp(1,6,9))and(p(2,4,9)Vp(2,5,9)Vp(2,6,9))and(p(3,4,9)Vp(3,5,9)Vp(3,6,9))] and
…
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Encoding (cont)
● Assert that no cell contains more than one number.

● Take the conjunction over all values of n, n’, i, and j,

where each variable ranges from 1 to 9 and ,
of

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Solving Satisfiability Problems
● To solve a Sudoku puzzle, we need to find an assignment
of truth values to the 729 variables of the form p(i,j,n) that
makes the conjunction of the assertions true.
—>Those variables that are assigned T yield a solution to the puzzle.
● A truth table can always be used to determine the
satisfiability of a compound proposition. But this is too
complex even for modern computers for large problems.
● There has been much work on developing efficient methods
for solving satisfiability problems as many practical
problems can be translated into satisfiability problems.

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