Propositional Logic in AI

Ms. Amber Malik

 Introduction to Propositional Logic in AI
• This logic is synonymous with sentential logic, provides ways and
means of combining or changing the propositions to create a
complicated structure and to build a new logical relationship and
properties. It combines logical connections of all the constituent
statements, and the true value of the complex statement is derived.
While doing, it considers other factors like reasoning, relationship,
and interconnection between the constituent statements.
• This logic provides better clarity on data and information in an
incomplete environment by deeper analysis and inference of the
limited information presented to it. Due to this unique feature and
powerful algorithms deployed in logical reasoning, it is widely
adopted in advanced search in AI in solving complex problems.
 Syntax
• Propositional logic (PL), in order to be
effective, then we need to follow a language
structure that should be agreed upon by
everyone, and it should be easy to adopt by
all. PL Language structure consists of simple
undividable statements joined together with
logical connector.
Rules
 Other Features
• A simple sentence is called Atomic Proposition, and it
should be either true or false. Example: 9+2 =11 is one
such proposition, and it is true. Sunrises in the west is
another example, and it is false.
• A combination of simple sentences connected by logical
connectors is called Compound. Example: Today is Friday
and people visit Temple today. It’s raining, and the match is
called off.
• A Proposition that is always true is known as Tautology
(another name for Valid Sentence).
• A Proposition that is always false is known as Contradiction.
 Logical Connectives
• It connects two undividable simple sentences
or expresses a sentence in a logical sense.
Complex statements can be created using
logical connectives.
• There are 5 types of connectors, namely:
 Sl. Type Symbol Description
Example: Today is Monday
1 Negation ¬P (P), Today is not a Monday (¬
P)
Example: Ali is a cricket
player (P). Ali is a Hockey
2 Conjunction P^Q player (Q). Ali plays both
cricket and Hockey is
represented by (P ^ Q)
. Example: Ali leaves for
Mumbai (P) and Ali leaves
3 Disjunction PvQ for Chennai (Q). Ali leaves
for Chennai or Mumbai is
represented by (P v Q).
It follows the rule of If then
clause. If sentence P is true,
then sentence Q is true. The
condition is
4 Implication P→Q
unidirectional. Example: If it
is Sunday (P) then I will go to
Movie (Q), and it is
represented as P → Q
Sentence (Q) is dependent
on sentence (P), and vice
versa. Example: If I have
1000 Rupees then only I will
go to Bar. The converse
5 Bi-conditional P⇔Q
condition that I will go to Bar
if and only if I have Rs 1000.
The first statement covers
necessity and the second
one covers sufficiency.
 Truth Table
• It maps the truth values of propositions for all
combinations that are possible with several
logical connectives. It follows Boolean logic
and propositional calculus. All such scenarios
with corresponding truth values are captured
in Table known as Truth Table.
Truth table
 Conclusion – Propositional Logic in AI
• Due to its ability in solving complex problems
this logic is used quite extensively in Business,
Education and Medical fields.
• But it has some limitations viz.,
• It cannot address relations like Some, ALL,
• It can neither handle logical relationships.
• It has limited expressive ability.
First Order Logic FOL
 What is first-order logic (FOL)
• FOL is a mode of representation in Artificial Intelligence. It is an
extension of PL.
• FOL represents natural language statements in a concise way.
• FOL is also called predicate logic. It is a powerful language used
to develop information about an object and express the
relationship between objects.
• FOL not only assumes that does the world contains facts (like PL
does), but it also assumes the following:
– Objects: A, B, people, numbers, colors, wars, theories, squares, etc.
– Relations: It is unary relation such as red, round, sister of, brother of,
etc.
– Function: father of, best friend, third inning of, end of, etc.
 Parts of first-order logic
• FOL also has two parts:
• Syntax
• Semantics
Syntax
• The syntax of FOL decides which collection of
symbols is a logical expression.
• The basic syntactic elements of FOL are
symbols. We use symbols to write statements in
shorthand notation.
Basic elements of FOL
 Atomic and complex sentences in FOL
Atomic Sentence
• This is a basic sentence of FOL formed from a predicate
symbol followed by a parenthesis with a sequence of
terms.
• We can represent atomic sentences as a predicate
(value1, value2…., value n).
Example
• John and Michael are colleagues → Colleagues (John,
Michael)
• German Shepherd is a dog → Dog (German Shepherd)
 Atomic and complex sentences in FOL
Complex sentences are made by combining atomic sentences using
connectives.
FOL is further divided into two parts:
• Subject: the main part of the statement.
• Predicate: defined as a relation that binds two atoms together.
Example
• Colleague (Oliver, Benjamin) ∧ Colleague (Benjamin, Oliver)
• “x is an integer”
• It has two parts;
– first, x is the subject.
– second, “is an integer” is called a predicate.
 Quantifiers and their use in FOL
• Quantifiers generate quantification and
specify the number of specimen in the
universe.
• Quantifiers allow us to determine or identify
the range and scope of the variable in a logical
expression.
• There are two types of quantifiers:
– Universal quantifier: for all, everyone, everything.
– Existential quantifier: for some, at least one.
 1. Universal quantifiers
• Universal quantifiers specify that the statement
within the range is true for everything or every
instance of a particular thing.
• Universal quantifiers are denoted by a symbol (∀)
that looks like an inverted A. In a universal
quantifier, we use →.
• If x is a variable, then ∀x can read as:
– For all x
– For every x
– For each x
 Example
• Every Student Likes Educative.
 Explanation
• So, in logical notation, it can be written as:
• ∀x: student(x) → likes(x, Educative)
• This can be interpreted as: There is every x
where x is a student who likes Educative.
 Example
• All boys like cricket
∀x: student(x) → likes(x, Educative)
 2. Existential quantifiers
• Existential quantifiers are used to express that the
statement within their scope is true for at least one
instance of something.
• ∃, which looks like an inverted E, is used to
represent them. We always use AND or conjunction
symbols.
• If x is a variable, the existential quantifier will be ∃x:
– For some x
– There exists an x
– For at least one x
 Example
• Some people like Football.
 Explanation
• So, in logical notation, it can be written as:
• ∃x: people(x) ∧ likes Football(x)
• It can be interpreted as: There are some x
where x is people who like football.
 example
• Some girls like football
ꓱx: girls(x) ∧ hate(x, football)
 Nested quantifiers & their uses
• We can use both quantifiers together, but it’s not a type of
quantifier; rather, it’s an outlier category.
• Nested quantifier refers to when one quantifier is within
the scope of another quantifier.
• These quantifiers can be represented using the ∃x∀x signs.
• Here are some examples to understand this type of
quantifier.
– ∃xy ∀x ∀y((x< 0) ∧ (y< 0) → (xy = 8))
• This can be interpreted as: For every real
number x and y ∈ ℝ, if x is negative and y is also negative,
implies for some values of xy must be equal to 8.
 Example
• Every person who buys a policy is smart

∀x ∀y : person(x) ∧ policy(y) ∧ buys(x,y) →

smart(x)
• No person buys expensive policy
∀x ∀y : person(x) ∧ policy(y) ∧ expensive(y) →
¬ buy(x,y)