CSE 1201

Discrete Mathematics

Lecture 2
Compound Propositions

Course Teacher:

Md. Moazzem Hossain, Assistant Professor, CSE

Outlines
Compound Proposition
Boolean operators
Precedence of Operator
Logic and Bit Operation
Applications of Propositional Logic
Propositional Equivalence
Some Common Terms: Tautology

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Compound Proposition
New propositions formed from existing propositions using
logical operators are called compound propositions.

Example: (p∨¬q)→(p∧q)
Truth Tables of Compound Propositions
Example
Construct the truth table of the compound proposition
(p∨¬q)→(p∧q).

4
Boolean operators summary
and or xor conditional Bi-conditional
p q pq pq pq pq pq
T T T T F T T
T F F T T F F
F T F T T T F
F F F F F T T

Learn what they mean, don’t just memorize the

table!
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Precedence of operators

• Just as in algebra, operators have precedence

4+3*2 = ?
 4+3*2 = 4+(3*2)

 4+3*2 = (4+3)*2

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 Precedence of operators
 p  q  ¬r → s ↔ t = ?
Operato Preceden
rs ce
=(p  (q  (¬r)) → s) ↔ (t) ¬ 1

 2
 First three are the most
 3
important
 Not is always performed → 4
before any other ↔ 5
operation
Logic and Bit Operations

8
Applications of Propositional Logic

• Translating English Sentences

• System Specifications
• Boolean Searches
• Logic Puzzles
• Logic Circuits

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Translating English Sentences
Example
p = “It is below freezing”
q = “It is snowing”
It is below freezing and it is snowing pq
It is below freezing but not snowing p¬q

If it is below freezing, it is also snowing p→q

It is either below freezing or it is snowing, but it
is not snowing if it is below freezing (pq)(p→¬q)

That it is below freezing is necessary and p↔q

sufficient for it to be snowing
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Translating English Sentences
Problem: How can this English sentence be translated into a logical expression?
“You can access the Internet from campus only if you are a computer science
major or you are not a freshman.”

Solve:
Let, a = “You can access the Internet from campus,”
c = “You are a computer science major,” and
f = “You are a freshman,”

Then the statement can be represented as a → (c ∨ ¬f).

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Translating English Sentences
Problem: How can this English sentence be translated into a logical expression?
“You can access the Internet from campus only if you are a computer science
major or you are not a freshman.”

Solve:
Let, a = “You can access the Internet from campus,”
c = “You are a computer science major,” and
f = “You are a freshman,”

Then the statement can be represented as a → (c ∨ ¬f).

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Translating English Sentences
How can this English sentence be translated into a logical
expression?
“You can not ride the roller coaster if you are under 4 feet tall
unless you are older than 16 years old.”
Solution: Let q, r, and s represent “You can ride the roller
coaster,” “You are under 4 feet tall,” and “You are older than 16
years old,” respectively. Then the sentence can be translated to (r
∧ ¬s) → ¬q.

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Propositional Equivalences

Back to the Future

Back to the Future
Propositional Calculus or Propositional Logic.
The area of logic that deals with propositions is called the
propositional calculus or propositional logic.

Compound Propositions
New propositions formed from existing propositions using
logical operators are called compound propositions.

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Some Common Terms
Tautology
A compound proposition that is always true, no matter what the
truth values of the propositional variables that occur in it, is called a
tautology.

Contradiction
A compound proposition that is always false is called a
contradiction.
Contingency
A compound proposition that is neither a tautology nor a
contradiction is called a contingency.

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Example
Tautology
p  ¬p

Contradiction
p  ¬p

Contingency
p  ¬p

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Tautology
Demonstrate that
[¬p (p q )]q
is a tautology in two ways:
1. Using a truth table – show that [¬p (p q )]q is always
true
2. Using a proof (will get to this later).

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Tautology by truth table

p q ¬p p q ¬p (p q ) [¬p (p q )]q

T T

T F

F T

F F

L3 19
Tautology by truth table

p q ¬p p q ¬p (p q ) [¬p (p q )]q

T T F

T F F

F T T

F F T

L3 20
Tautology by truth table

p q ¬p p q ¬p (p q ) [¬p (p q )]q

T T F T

T F F T

F T T T

F F T F

L3 21
Tautology by truth table

p q ¬p p q ¬p (p q ) [¬p (p q )]q

T T F T F

T F F T F

F T T T T

F F T F F

L3 22
Tautology by truth table

p q ¬p p q ¬p (p q ) [¬p (p q )]q

T T F T F T

T F F T F T

F T T T T T

F F T F F T

L3 23
END
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