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Constructing Truth Tables: General Mathematics Program

Here are the key steps to show the logical equivalences: (a) Use identity and domination laws (b) Use inverse and De Morgan's laws (c) Construct a truth table and show it is a tautology (d) Use distribution law (e) Use distribution and identity laws

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275 views

Constructing Truth Tables: General Mathematics Program

Here are the key steps to show the logical equivalences: (a) Use identity and domination laws (b) Use inverse and De Morgan's laws (c) Construct a truth table and show it is a tautology (d) Use distribution law (e) Use distribution and identity laws

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THe Study Hall
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Constructing Truth

Tables
General Mathematics Program
Objectives

• Recall the logical operators


• Construct a truth table for compound
propositions
• Define contradiction and tautology
• Prove that a compound proposition is a
tautology or a contradiction
Recall

• It is very important that you recall the truth


values of each operator.
Constructing Truth Tables

Let p and q be propositions, construct the


truth tables of the compound proposition
(p à q) ∧ (q à p)

• We can easily answer this by considering


all the possible combinations of the two
propositions, p and q.
Constructing Truth Tables

Shown below are the possible combinations for the


truth values of p and q.
p q pàq qàp (p à q) ∧ (q à p)

T T T T T
T F F T F
F T T F F
F F T T T
Find the truth values of the following logical
operators per column until you reach the final
compound propositions.
Constructing Truth Tables

Remark:
p q pàq qàp (p à q) ∧ (q à p) p ßà q

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

• The biconditional has the same truth value of the


said compound proposition.
• Thus, we can say that the biconditional is a
conjunction of the conditional and its converse.
Constructing Truth Tables

Let p, q and r be propositions, construct the


truth table of the compound proposition

[(p à r) ∧ (q à r)] à[(p ∨ q) à r]


Constructing Truth Tables

s: [(p à r) ∧ (q à r)] à[(p ∨ q) à r]

p q r p à r q à r (p à r) ∧ (q à r) p∨q (p ∨ q) à r S

T T T T T T T T T
T T F F F F T F T
T F T T T T T T T
T F F F T F T F T
F T T T T T T T T
F T F T F F T F T
F F T T T T F T T
F F F T T T F T T
Constructing Truth Tables

Notice that the last column of the truth table


consists entirely of T .
This means that the proposition
s: [(p à r) ∧ (q à r)] à[(p ∨ q) à r]
is always true for all possible combinations
of the truth values of p, q, and r. Such
propositions are called tautologies.
Definition

• A proposition that is always true is called a


tautology, while a proposition that is
always false is called a contradiction.
• A tautology is denoted by τ and a
contradiction by ϕ.
Examples

Let p and q be propositions. Using truth


tables, show the following:
i. p ∨ τ is a tautology,
ii. p ∧ ϕ is a contradiction,
iii. p à (p ∨ q) is a tautology
iv. (p ∧ (~ q)) ∧ (p ∧ q) is a contradiction.
Logical Equivalences

General Mathematics Program


Recall

p q pàq qàp (p à q) ∧ (q à p) p ßà q

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

• The 3rd and the 4th column have the same truth
values.
• Thus, we can also say that these two
propositions, (p à q) ∧ (q à p) and p ßà q are
logically equivalent.
Definition

Two propositions p and q are logically


equivalent, denoted by
póq
if they have the same truth values for all
possible truth values of their simple
components.
The logical equivalence between propositions is
analogous to the concept of equality between
numbers.
Constructing Truth Tables

Show that r ó s where


r: p à q
s: [(~p)∨q]
p q pàq ~p (~p) ∨ q

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

The 3rd and 5th column have the same truth values
thus we can say that rós. (Switcheroo Law)
Constructing Truth Tables

We can also verify logical equivalences by showing


that r ßà s is a tautology.
p q pàq ~p (~p) ∨ q r ßà s

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

By showing that r ßà s, then we can say that rós.


(Switcheroo Law)
Table of Logical Equivalences

Let p, q, and r be propositions. One can


verify using truth tables that the following are
indeed logical equivalences.
Identity Laws (p ∧ τ) ó p (p ∨ ϕ) ó p
Domination Laws (p ∨ τ) ó τ (p ∧ ϕ) ó ϕ
Idempotent Laws (p ∨ p) ó p (p ∧ p) ó p
Inverse Laws (p ∨ [~p]) ó τ (p ∧ [~p]) ó ϕ
Double Negation ~(~p) ó p
Associative Laws p ∨ (q ∨ r) ó (p ∨ q) ∨ r p ∧ (q ∧ r) ó (p ∧ q) ∧ r
Table of Logical Equivalences

Let p, q, and r be propositions. One can


verify using truth tables that the following are
indeed logical equivalences.
Commutative Laws p∨ qó q∨ p p∧ qó q∧ p
p ∨ (q ∧ r) ó (p ∨ q) ∧ (p ∨ r)
Distributive Laws
p ∧ (q ∨ r) ó (p ∧ q) ∨ (p ∧ r)
De Morgan’s Laws ~ (p ∨ q) ó (~ p) ∧ (~ q) ~ (p ∧ q) ó (~ p) ∨ (~ q)
Absorption Laws p ∨ (p ∧ q) ó p p ∧ (p ∨ q) ó p
Examples

Show that ~(p à q) ó [p∧ (~q)].

Reason
~(p à q)
ó ~(~p∨q) Switcheroo
ó ~(~p) ∧ ~(q) De Morgan’s Laws
ó p ∧ (~q) Double Negation
Forms of Conditionals

Given propositions p and q. There are three


propositions that we can derive from the
conditional p à q, namely, its
(a) converse: q à p
(b) contrapositive: ~q à ~p
(c) inverse: ~ p à ~q

Recall that the conditional and contrapositive are


logically equivalent and the converse and inverse
are also logically equivalent.
Examples

Show that p à q ó ~q à ~p

Reason
pàq
ó ~p∨q Switcheroo
ó q ∨ ~p Commutative
ó ~(~q) ∨ ~p Double Negation
ó ~q à ~p Switcheroo
Examples

Show that ~p à ~q ó q à p

Reason
~p à ~q
ó ~(~p)∨~q Switcheroo
ó ~q ∨ ~(~p) Commutative
ó ~q ∨ p Double Negation
ó qàp Switcheroo
Remarks

• Recall that the conditional and the


converse do not necessarily have the
same truth values.
• It follows that the inverse and the
contrapositive also necessarily don’t have
the same truth values.
• When the conditional and its converse are
both true, then we can say that the
biconditional is true.
Exercises

Show the following logical equivalences.


(a.) (p ∨ q) ó ((~p) à q)
(b.) ~(p à q) ó (p ∧ (~q))
(c.) ((p à r) ∧ (q à r)) ó ((p ∨ q) à r)
(d.) ((p à q) ∨(p àr)) ó (p à (q ∨ r))
(e.) ((p à r) ∨ (q à r)) ó ((p ∧ q) à r)

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