Chapter 2 – Lesson 2

Elementary Logic:
Connectives, Variables,
Quantifiers, and
Negation
Definition of statements
A statement is a sentence which is either true or false, but not both
simultaneously.

Note: No sentence can be called a statement if

(i) It is an exclamation

(ii) It is an order or request

(iii) It is a question

(iv) It involves variable time such as ‘today’, ‘tomorrow’, ‘yesterday’

etc.

(v) It involves variable places such as ‘here’, ‘there’, ‘everywhere’ etc.

(vi) It involves pronouns such as ‘she’, ‘he’, ‘they’ etc.

Examples:
1. ‘New Delhi is in India; is true. So it is a statement.

2. “Every rectangle is a square” is false. So it is a

statement.

3. “Close the door” can not be assigned true or false

(Infact, it is a command). So it can not be called a
statement.

4. “How old are you?” can not be assigned true or false

(In fact, it is a question). So it is not a statement

5. “x is a natural number” depends on the value of x. So

it is not considered as a statement. However, in some
books it is called an open statement
Definition of Simple Statement
A statement is called simple if it can not be broken down

into two or more statements.

Example:

1. “2 is an even number”,

2. “A square has all its sides equal” and

3. “ Chandigarh is the capital of Haryana”

 Definition of Compound
Statement
A compound statement is the one which is made up of

two or more simple statements.

Example:

1. “11 is both an odd and prime number” can be broken

into two statements

2. “11 is an odd number” and “11 is a prime number” so it

is a compound statement.

Note: The simple statements which constitutes a

compound statement are called component statement
Basic logical connectives
There are many ways of combining simple
statements to form new statements. The
words which combine or change simple
statements to form new statements or
compound statements are called
Connectives.
The basic connectives (logical) conjunction
corresponds to the English word ‘and’;
disjunction corresponds to the word ‘or’; and
negation corresponds to the word ‘not’.
Basic logical connectives
Throughout we use the symbol ‘∧’ to
denote conjunction; ‘∨’ to denote
disjunction and the symbol ‘~’ to denote
negation.
Note: Negation is called a connective
although it does not combine two or more
statements. In fact, it only modifies a
statement.
1.Conjunction
If two simple statements p and q are
connected by the word ‘and’, then the
resulting compound statement “p and q” is
called a conjunction of p and q and is
written in symbolic form as “p ∧ q”
Examples:
1. Form the conjunction of the following simple statements:
p : Dinesh is a boy.
q : Nagma is a girl.
Solution: The conjunction of the statement p and q is given by
p ∧ q : Dinesh is a boy and Nagma is a girl.
2. Translate the following statement into symbolic form
“Jack and Jill went up the hill.”
Solution: The given statement can be rewritten as
“Jack went up the hill and Jill went up the hill”
Let p : Jack went up the hill and q : Jill went up the hill.
Then the given statement in symbolic form is p ∧ q.
Conjunction truth table
Example:
Write the truth value of each of the
following four statements:
1. Delhi is in India and 2 + 3 = 6.
2. Delhi is in India and 2 + 3 = 5.
3. Delhi is in Nepal and 2 + 3 = 5.
4. Delhi is in Nepal and 2 + 3 = 6.
2. Disjunction
If two simple statements p and q are
connected by the word ‘or’, then the
resulting compound statement “p or q” is
called disjunction of p and q and is written
in symbolic form as “p ∨ q”.
Example:
Form the disjunction of the following
simple statements:
p : The sun shines.
q : It rains.
Solution The disjunction of the statements
p and q is given by
p ∨ q : The sun shines or it rains.
Disjunction truth table
Example:
Write the truth value of each of the
following statements:
1. India is in Asia or 2 + 2 = 4.
2. India is in Asia or 2 + 2 = 5.
3. India is in Europe or 2 + 2 = 4.
4. India is in Europe or 2 + 2 = 5.
 3. Negation
An assertion that a statement fails or
denial of a statement is called the negation
of the statement. The negation of a
statement is generally formed by
introducing the word “not” at some
proper place in the statement or by
prefixing the statement with “It is not the
case that” or It is false that”.
The negation of a statement p in symbolic
form is written as “~ p”.
Example:
Write the negation of the statement
p : New Delhi is a city.
Solution: The negation of p is given by
~ p : New Delhi is not a city
or ~ p : It is not the case that New Delhi is
a city.
or ~ p : It is false that New Delhi is a city.
Negation truth table
Example:
Write the truth value of the negation of
each of the following statements:
1. p : Every square is a rectangle.
2. q : The earth is a star.
3. r : 2 + 3 < 4
 Negation of compound
statements
The negation of a conjunction p ∧ q is the
disjunction of the negation of p and the
negation of q. Equivalently, we write
~ (p ∧ q) = ~ p ∨ ~ q
Example: Write the negation of each of the
following conjunctions:
(a) Paris is in France and London is in
England.
(b) 2 + 3 = 5 and 8 < 10.
Example:
a. Write p : Paris is in France and
q : London is in England. Then,
the conjunction in (a) is given by p ∧ q.
Now ~ p : Paris is not in France, and
~ q : London is not in England.
Therefore, negation of p ∧ q is given by
~ ( p ∧ q) = Paris is not in France or London
is not in England.
Example:
b. Write p : 2 + 3 = 5 and q : 8 < 10. Then the
conjunction in (b) is given by p ∧ q.
Now ~ p : 2 + 3 ≠ 5 and ~ q : 8 </ 10.
negation of p ∧ q is given by
– ( p ∧ q) = (2 + 3 ≠ 5 ) or (8 </ 10)
Negation of disjunction
The negation of a disjunction p ∨ q is the
conjunction of the negation of p and the
negation of q. Equivalently, we write
~ (p ∨ q) = ~ p ∧ ∼ q
Write the negation of each of the following
disjunction :
(a) Ram is in Class X or Rahim is in Class
XII.
(b) 7 is greater than 4 or 6 is less than 7.
Example:
Solution
(a) Let p : Ram is in Class X and q : Rahim is
in Class XII.
Then the disjunction in (a) is given by p ∨ q.
Now ~ p : Ram is not in Class X.
~ q : Rahim is not in Class XII.
negation of p ∨ q is given by
~ (p ∨ q) : Ram is not in Class X and Rahim
is not in Class XII.
Example:

b. Write p : 7 is greater than 4,

and q : 6 is less than 7.
negation of p ∨ q is given by
~ (p ∨ q) : 7 is not greater
than 4 and 6 is not less than 7.
4. The conditional
statement
Recall that if p and q are any two
statements, then the compound statement
“if p then q” formed by joining p and q by
a connective.
‘if then’ is called a conditional statement
or an implication and is written in symbolic
form as p → q or p ⇒ q. Here, p is called
hypothesis (or antecedent) and q is called
conclusion (or consequent) of the
conditional statement (p ⇒ q):
conditional statement
Remark:
The conditional statement p ⇒ q can be
expressed in several different ways.
Some of the common expressions are :
(a) if p, then q
(b) q if p
(c) p only if q
(d) p is sufficient for q
(e) q is necessary for p.
Conditional truth table
Example:
1. Each of the following statements is also a
conditional statement.
a. If 2 + 2 = 5, then Rekha will get an ice-cream.
b. If you eat your dinner, then you will get dessert.
c. If John works hard, then it will rain today.
d. If ABC is a triangle, then ∠ A + ∠ B + ∠ C = 180°.
2. Express in English, the statement p → q, where
p : it is raining today
q:2+3>4
Example:
b. Express in English, the statement p → q,
where
p : it is raining today
q:2+3>4
• Solution
• : The required conditional statement is
• “If it is raining today, then 2 + 3 > 4”
Contrapositive of a
conditional statement
The statement “(~ q) → (~ p)” is

called the contrapositive of the statement p → q

Write each of the following statements in its equivalent

contrapositive form:

a. If my car is in the repair shop, then I cannot go to the

market.

b. If Karim cannot swim to the fort, then he cannot swim

across the river.

Solution):Let “p : my car is in the repair shop” and

“q : I can not go to the market”.

Then, the given statement in symbolic form is p → q.

Therefore, its contrapositive is given by ~ q → ~ p.
Example:
Now
~ p : My car is not in the repair shop.
and ~ q : I can go to the market
Therefore, the contrapositive of the given
statement is
“If I can go to the market, then my car is
not in the repair shop”.
“If Karim can swim across the river, then
he can swim to the fort”.
Converse of a
conditional statement
The conditional statement “q → p” is called the converse of the
conditional statement “ p → q ”

Write the converse of the following statements

a. If x < y, then x + 5 < y + 5

b. If ABC is an equilateral triangle, then ABC is an isosceles

triangle

Solution:

p:x<y

q:x+5<y+5

Therefore, the converse of the statement p → q is given by

“If x + 5 < y + 5, then x < y

Cont.
Converse of the given statement is
“If ABC is an isosceles triangle, then ABC is
an equilateral triangle.”
5. biconditional
statement
If two statements p and q are connected
by the connective ‘if and only if’ then the
resulting compound statement “p if and
only if q” is called a biconditional of p and
q and is written in symbolic form as p ↔ q.
Example:
1 . Form the biconditional of the following statements:
p : One is less than seven
q : Two is less than eight
Solution: The biconditional of p and q is given by “One is
less than seven, if and only if two is less than eight”.
2. Translate the following biconditional into symbolic
form:
“ABC is an equilateral triangle if and only if it is
equiangular”.
Solution: Let p : ABC is an equilateral triangle
and q : ABC is an equiangular triangle.
Then, the given statement in symbolic form is given by p
↔q
Biconditional truth table
Quantifiers
Quantifiers are the phrases like ‘These
exist’ and “for every”.
We come across many mathematical
statement containing these phrases.
For example – Consider the following
statements
p : For every prime number x, x is an
irrational number.
q : There exists a triangle whose all sides
are equal.
Quantifiers
Words that describe an entire set, such as
“all”, “every”, or “none”, are called
universal quantifiers because that set
could be considered a universal set. In
contrast, words or phrases such as
“some”, “one”, or “at least one” are
called existential quantifiers because they
describe the existence of at least one
element in a set.