The Foundations: Logic

and Proofs
Chapter 2, Part I: Propositional Logic
Chapter Summary
Propositional Logic
 The Language of Propositions
 Applications
 Logical Equivalences
Predicate Logic
 The Language of Quantifiers
 Logical Equivalences
 Nested Quantifiers
Proofs
 Rules of Inference
 Proof Methods
 Proof Strategy
Propositional Logic Summary
The Language of Propositions
Connectives
Truth Values
Truth Tables
Applications
Translating English Sentences
System Specifications
Logic Circuits
Propositional Logic
Section 2.1
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) The Moon is made of green cheese.
b) Trenton is the capital of New Jersey.

1+0=1
c) Toronto is the capital of Canada.
d)
e) 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
round.”, then ¬p
denotes “The earth is
denotes “It is not the case
that the earth is round,” or more simply “The
earth is not round.”
Conjunction
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
The disjunction of propositions p and q
denoted by p ∨q and has this truth table:
is

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

have taken both. This is the meaning of disjunction. For p ∨q

students need to have taken one of the prerequisites, but may

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

In p ⊕ q , one of p and q must be true, but not both. The truth

both soup and salad. This is the meaning of Exclusive Or (Xor).

table forp ⊕ is: 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

p q p →q
table:

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

 In p →q , p is the hypothesis (antecedent or premise) and q

raining.”

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 professor. This corresponds to the case where p

the campaign pledge. Something similar holds for

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 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
p q p ↔q
with this truth table:

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
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
conditional is equivalent to the
contrapositive.
p q ¬p ¬q p →q ¬q → ¬
Solution:
p
T T F F T T
T F F T F F
F T T F T 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.
p Solution:
q ¬p ¬q p →q ¬ p →¬ q→p
q
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 T T T
Problem
How many rows are there in a truth table
with n propositional variables?

Solution: 2n We will see how to do this in

Chapter 6.

propositional variables, we can construct 2n

Note that this means that with n

distinct (i.e., not equivalent) propositions.

Precedence of Logical Operators
Operator Precedence
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5

p q  r is equivalent to (p q)

If the intended meaning is p (q 

 r

r )
then parentheses must be used.
 Applications of
Propositional Logic
Section 2.2
Applications of Propositional Logic:
Summary
Translating English to Propositional Logic
System Specifications
Logic Circuits
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 If p or q then
q: I go to the country. not r.
r: I will go shopping.
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

One Solution: Let a, c, and f represent

are not a freshman.”

respectively “You can access the internet

from campus,” “You are a computer science

a→ (c ∨ ¬ f )
major,” and “You are a freshman.”
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”

q→ ¬ p
and q denote “The file system is full.”
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 stored in the

specification can be written as: p ∨ q, ¬p, p → q. When p is false

buffer.” Let q denote “The diagnostic message is retransmitted” The

and q is true all three statements are true. So the specification is

consistent.

Solution: Now we are adding ¬q and there is no satisfying

 What if “The diagnostic message is not retransmitted is added.”
assignment.
So the specification is not consistent.
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: