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Lecture 8-9a

This document provides an overview of predicates, propositional functions, and quantifiers in discrete mathematics. It defines predicates as properties that objects have, and gives examples of subjects and their predicates. Propositional functions are expressions with variables that can become propositions when values are assigned. Universal and existential quantifiers are introduced to create propositions from propositional functions by specifying whether a property is true for all or some objects. The document explains how to negate quantified statements and provides examples evaluating the truth values of various quantified propositions.

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mehtab Khan
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
16 views

Lecture 8-9a

This document provides an overview of predicates, propositional functions, and quantifiers in discrete mathematics. It defines predicates as properties that objects have, and gives examples of subjects and their predicates. Propositional functions are expressions with variables that can become propositions when values are assigned. Universal and existential quantifiers are introduced to create propositions from propositional functions by specifying whether a property is true for all or some objects. The document explains how to negate quantified statements and provides examples evaluating the truth values of various quantified propositions.

Uploaded by

mehtab Khan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Discrete Mathematics

Lecture: 7

March 22, 2021

Lecture: 7 Discrete Mathematics 1/11


Predicate

What is Predicate?
A predicate is property that some object has.
Example 1
He goes to school.
The above sentence has two parts:
(1) He: which is called subject
(2) goes to school: called the property of the subject. (predicate)

Example 2
x > 5.
(1) x is called subject
(2) > 5: called the property of the subject. (predicate)

Lecture: 7 Discrete Mathematics 2/11


• Expressions that contains variable is also called predicate.
• x > 7 is not a proposition because it is neither true nor false. •
To deal such problems, we can write it in such a way to make it
proposition.
We denote the statement x > 7 by P(x), where P denotes the
predicate > 7 and x is the variable.
The statement P(x) is said to be the value of the propositional
function P at x.
Once a value has been assigned to the variable x, the statement
P(x) becomes a proposition.
Example 3
Let P(x) denote the statement “x > 7.” What are the truth values
of P(4) and P(9)?
(1) P(4): 4 > 7 False
(2) P(9): 9 > 7 True

Lecture: 7 Discrete Mathematics 3/11


Example 4
Let Q(x, y) denote the statement “x = y + 3.” What are the truth
values of the propositions Q(1, 2) and Q(3, 0)?
(1) Q(1,2): 1=2+3 False
(2) Q(3,0): 3=0+3 True

Example 5
Let Q(x, y, z) denote the statement “x + y =z.” What are the
truth values of the propositions Q(2, 3, 5) and Q(0, 1, 2)?
(1) Q(2, 3, 5): 2+3=5 True
(2) Q(0, 1, 2): 0+1=2 False

Lecture: 7 Discrete Mathematics 4/11


Quantifier

If P(x): x< 6 (is not a proposition) for x not exceeding 5.


In the above statement the numbers not exceeding 5 is the
universe of discourse (or Domain of discourse)
• If P(x): x< 6 is true for all number not exceeding 5.
What is a quantifier?
A quantifier is an operator used to create a proposition from
propositional function. An other way if we does not assign value to
P(x).
• ∀ → For all xP(x)
• ∃ → there exist xP(x)

Lecture: 7 Discrete Mathematics 5/11


Definition 6 (Universal Quantifier ∀)
The Universal quantification of P(x) is the statement ”P(x) for all
values of x in the domain”.
The notation ∀P(x) denotes the universal quantification of P(x).
Here ∀ is called the universal quantifier.We read ∀P(x) as “for all
xP(x)” or “for every xP(x).” An element for which P(x) is false is
called a counterexample of ∀P(x).

Example 7
What is the truth value of ∀P(x), where P(x) is the statement
”x 2 < 10” and the universe of discourse consists of positive
integers not exceeding 4.
Solution:
Positive integers not exceeding 4 are: 1,2,3,4
Next, it is easy to see that 12 < 10, 22 < 10, 32 < 10 and 42 6< 10.
It follow that ∀P(x) is False.
The statement ∀P(x) is the same as the conjunction
P(1) ∧ P(2)∧ P(3)∧ P(4)
Lecture: 7 Discrete Mathematics 6/11
Definition 8 (Existential Quantifier ∃)
The existential quantification of P(x) is the statement
”There exists an element x in the domain such that P(x)”.
We use the notation ∃P(x) for the existential quantification of
P(x). Here ∃ is called the existential quantifier.

Example 9
What is the truth value of ∃P(x), where P(x) is the statement
”x 2 < 10” and the universe of discourse consists of positive
integers not exceeding 4.
Solution:
Positive integers not exceeding 4 are: 1,2,3,4
Next, it is easy to see that 12 < 10, 22 < 10, 32 < 10 and 42 6< 10.
It follow that ∀P(x) is True.
The statement ∀P(x) is the same as the disjunction
P(1) ∨ P(2)∨ P(3)∨ P(4)

Lecture: 7 Discrete Mathematics 7/11


Negation of the Quantifiers

Negation of the universal Quantifiers


Consider the example
”Every student in the class has taken a course in calculus”.
This statement is a universal quantification. That is,
∀ xP(x), where P(x) is the statement ”x has taken a course in
calculus”.
The negation of this statement is:
It is not the case that every student in the class has taken a course
in calculus.
This equivalent to:
”There is a student in the class who has not taken a course in
calculus”.
This gives:
∼ ∀ xP(X) ≡ ∃ x ∼P(x)

Lecture: 7 Discrete Mathematics 8/11


Negation of the Existential Quantifiers
Consider the example
”There is student in the class has taken a course in calculus”.
This statement is an existential quantification. That is,
∃ xP(x), where P(x) is the statement ”x has taken a course in
calculus”.
The negation of this statement is:
It is not the case that there is a student in the class has taken a
course in calculus.
This equivalent to:
”Every student in the class has not taken a course in calculus”.
This is just the universal quantification of the negation of the
original propositional function. This gives:
∼ ∃ xP(X) ≡ ∀ x ∼P(x)

Lecture: 7 Discrete Mathematics 9/11


Example 10
What are the negations of the statements ∀x(x 2 > x) and ∃(x 2 =
2)?
Solution:
The negation of ∀x(x 2 > x) is the statement ∼ ∀(x 2 > x), which
is equivalent to ∃ x∼(x 2 > x). This can be rewritten as ∃ x(x 2 ≤
x). The negation of ∃(x 2 = 2) is the statement ∼ ∃ x(x 2 = 2),
which is equivalent to ∀ x ∼(x 2 = 2). This can be rewritten as ∀
x(x 2 6=2). The truth values of these statements depend on the
domain.

Lecture: 7 Discrete Mathematics 10/11


Exercise

Question 1

Question 2

Lecture: 7 Discrete Mathematics 11/11

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