Discrete Mathematics - Propositional Logic

The rules of mathematical logic specify methods of reasoning mathematical statements. Greek
philosopher, Aristotle, was the pioneer of logical reasoning. Logical reasoning provides the
theoretical base for many areas of mathematics and consequently computer science. It has
many practical applications in computer science like design of computing machines, artificial
intelligence, definition of data structures for programming languages etc.

Propositional Logic is concerned with statements to which the truth values, “true” and
“false”, can be assigned. The purpose is to analyze these statements either individually or in a
composite manner.

Prepositional Logic – Definition

A proposition is a collection of declarative statements that has either a truth value "true” or a
truth value "false". A propositional consists of propositional variables and connectives. We
denote the propositional variables by capital letters (A, B, etc). The connectives connect the
propositional variables.

Some examples of Propositions are given below −

"Man is Mortal", it returns truth value “TRUE”

"12 + 9 = 3 – 2", it returns truth value “FALSE”

The following is not a Proposition −

"A is less than 2". It is because unless we give a specific value of A, we cannot say
whether the statement is true or false.

Connectives
In propositional logic generally we use five connectives which are −

OR (∨)
AND (∧)

Negation/ NOT (¬)

Implication / if-then (→ )
If and only if (⇔ ).
OR (∨ ) − The OR operation of two propositions A and B (written as A ∨ B) is true if at least
any of the propositional variable A or B is true.

The truth table is as follows −

AND (∧ ) − The AND operation of two propositions A and B (written as A ∧ B) is true if both
the propositional variable A and B is true.

The truth table is as follows −

Negation (¬ ) − The negation of a proposition A (written as ¬A ) is false when A is true and

is true when A is false.

The truth table is as follows −

Implication / if-then (→) − An implication A → B is the proposition “if A, then B”. It is

false if A is true and B is false. The rest cases are true.

The truth table is as follows −

If and only if (⇔) − A ⇔ B is bi-conditional logical connective which is true when p and q
are same, i.e. both are false or both are true.

The truth table is as follows −

Tautologies
A Tautology is a formula which is always true for every value of its propositional variables.

Example − Prove [(A → B) ∧ A] → B is a tautology

The truth table is as follows −

As we can see every value of [(A → B) ∧ A] → B is "True", it is a tautology.

Contradictions
A Contradiction is a formula which is always false for every value of its propositional variables.

Example − Prove (A ∨ B) ∧ [(¬A) ∧ (¬B)] is a contradiction

The truth table is as follows −

As we can see every value of (A ∨ B) ∧ [(¬A) ∧ (¬B)] is “False”, it is a contradiction.

Contingency
A Contingency is a formula which has both some true and some false values for every value of
its propositional variables.

Example − Prove (A ∨ B) ∧ (¬A) a contingency

The truth table is as follows −

As we can see every value of (A ∨ B) ∧ (¬A) has both “True” and “False”, it is a contingency.

Propositional Equivalences
Two statements X and Y are logically equivalent if any of the following two conditions hold −

The truth tables of each statement have the same truth values.

The bi-conditional statement X ⇔ Y is a tautology.

Example − Prove ¬(A ∨ B)and[(¬A) ∧ (¬B)] are equivalent

Testing by 1st method (Matching truth table)

Here, we can see the truth values of ¬(A ∨ B)and[(¬A) ∧ (¬B)] are same, hence the
statements are equivalent.

Testing by 2nd method (Bi-conditionality)

As [¬(A ∨ B)] ⇔ [(¬A) ∧ (¬B)] is a tautology, the statements are equivalent.

Inverse, Converse, and Contra-positive

Implication / if-then (→) is also called a conditional statement. It has two parts −

Hypothesis, p
Conclusion, q

As mentioned earlier, it is denoted as p → q.

Example of Conditional Statement − “If you do your homework, you will not be punished.”
Here, "you do your homework" is the hypothesis, p, and "you will not be punished" is the
conclusion, q.

Inverse − An inverse of the conditional statement is the negation of both the hypothesis and
the conclusion. If the statement is “If p, then q”, the inverse will be “If not p, then not q”.
Thus the inverse of p → q is ¬p → ¬q.

Example − The inverse of “If you do your homework, you will not be punished” is “If you do
not do your homework, you will be punished.”

Converse − The converse of the conditional statement is computed by interchanging the

hypothesis and the conclusion. If the statement is “If p, then q”, the converse will be “If q,
then p”. The converse of p → q is q → p.
Example − The converse of "If you do your homework, you will not be punished" is "If you
will not be punished, you do your homework”.

Contra-positive − The contra-positive of the conditional is computed by interchanging the

hypothesis and the conclusion of the inverse statement. If the statement is “If p, then q”, the
contra-positive will be “If not q, then not p”. The contra-positive of p → q is ¬q → ¬p.

Example − The Contra-positive of " If you do your homework, you will not be punished” is "If
you are punished, you did not do your homework”.

Duality Principle
Duality principle states that for any true statement, the dual statement obtained by
interchanging unions into intersections (and vice versa) and interchanging Universal set into
Null set (and vice versa) is also true. If dual of any statement is the statement itself, it is said
self-dual statement.

Example − The dual of (A ∩ B) ∪ C is (A ∪ B) ∩ C

Normal Forms
We can convert any proposition in two normal forms −

Conjunctive normal form

Disjunctive normal form

Conjunctive Normal Form

A compound statement is in conjunctive normal form if it is obtained by operating AND among

variables (negation of variables included) connected with ORs. In terms of set operations, it is
a compound statement obtained by Intersection among variables connected with Unions.

Examples

(A ∨ B) ∧ (A ∨ C ) ∧ (B ∨ C ∨ D)

(P ∪ Q) ∩ (Q ∪ R)

Disjunctive Normal Form

A compound statement is in disjunctive normal form if it is obtained by operating OR among

variables (negation of variables included) connected with ANDs. In terms of set operations, it
is a compound statement obtained by Union among variables connected with Intersections.

Examples
(A ∧ B) ∨ (A ∧ C ) ∨ (B ∧ C ∧ D)

(P ∩ Q) ∪ (Q ∩ R)
 Discrete Mathematics - Rules of Inference

To deduce new statements from the statements whose truth that we already know, Rules of
Inference are used.

What are Rules of Inference for?

Mathematical logic is often used for logical proofs. Proofs are valid arguments that determine
the truth values of mathematical statements.

An argument is a sequence of statements. The last statement is the conclusion and all its
preceding statements are called premises (or hypothesis). The symbol “∴”, (read therefore) is
placed before the conclusion. A valid argument is one where the conclusion follows from the
truth values of the premises.

Rules of Inference provide the templates or guidelines for constructing valid arguments from
the statements that we already have.

Table of Rules of Inference

Addition
If P is a premise, we can use Addition rule to derive P ∨ Q.

∴ P ∨ Q

Example

Let P be the proposition, “He studies very hard” is true

Therefore − "Either he studies very hard Or he is a very bad student." Here Q is the
proposition “he is a very bad student”.

Conjunction
If P and Q are two premises, we can use Conjunction rule to derive P ∧ Q.

∴ P ∧ Q
Example

Let P − “He studies very hard”

Let Q − “He is the best boy in the class”

Therefore − "He studies very hard and he is the best boy in the class"

Simplification
If P ∧ Q is a premise, we can use Simplification rule to derive P.

P ∧ Q

∴ P

Example

"He studies very hard and he is the best boy in the class", P ∧ Q

Therefore − "He studies very hard"

Modus Ponens
If P and P → Q are two premises, we can use Modus Ponens to derive Q.

P → Q

∴ Q

Example

"If you have a password, then you can log on to facebook", P → Q

"You have a password", P

Therefore − "You can log on to facebook"

Modus Tollens
If P → Q and ¬Q are two premises, we can use Modus Tollens to derive ¬P .

P → Q

¬Q

∴ ¬P

Example
"If you have a password, then you can log on to facebook", P → Q

"You cannot log on to facebook", ¬Q

Therefore − "You do not have a password "

Disjunctive Syllogism
If ¬P and P ∨ Q are two premises, we can use Disjunctive Syllogism to derive Q.

¬P

P ∨ Q

∴ Q

Example

"The ice cream is not vanilla flavored", ¬P

"The ice cream is either vanilla flavored or chocolate flavored", P ∨ Q

Therefore − "The ice cream is chocolate flavored”

Hypothetical Syllogism
If P → Q and Q → R are two premises, we can use Hypothetical Syllogism to derive
P → R

P → Q

Q → R

∴ P → R

Example

"If it rains, I shall not go to school”, P → Q

"If I don't go to school, I won't need to do homework", Q → R

Therefore − "If it rains, I won't need to do homework"

Constructive Dilemma
If (P → Q) ∧ (R → S) and P ∨ R are two premises, we can use constructive dilemma to
derive Q ∨ S .

(P → Q) ∧ (R → S )

P ∨ R

∴ Q ∨ S
Example

“If it rains, I will take a leave”, (P → Q)

“If it is hot outside, I will go for a shower”, (R → S )

“Either it will rain or it is hot outside”, P ∨ R

Therefore − "I will take a leave or I will go for a shower"

Destructive Dilemma
If (P → Q) ∧ (R → S) and ¬Q ∨ ¬S are two premises, we can use destructive dilemma to
derive ¬P ∨ ¬R .

(P → Q) ∧ (R → S )

¬Q ∨ ¬S

∴ ¬P ∨ ¬R

Example

“If it rains, I will take a leave”, (P → Q)

“If it is hot outside, I will go for a shower”, (R → S )

“Either I will not take a leave or I will not go for a shower”, ¬Q ∨ ¬S

Therefore − "Either it does not rain or it is not hot outside"

 Discrete Mathematics - Predicate Logic

Predicate Logic deals with predicates, which are propositions containing variables.

Predicate Logic – Definition

A predicate is an expression of one or more variables defined on some specific domain. A
predicate with variables can be made a proposition by either assigning a value to the variable
or by quantifying the variable.

The following are some examples of predicates −

Let E(x, y) denote "x = y"

Let X(a, b, c) denote "a + b + c = 0"

Let M(x, y) denote "x is married to y"

Well Formed Formula

Well Formed Formula (wff) is a predicate holding any of the following −

All propositional constants and propositional variables are wffs

If x is a variable and Y is a wff, ∀xY and ∃xY are also wff

Truth value and false values are wffs

Each atomic formula is a wff
All connectives connecting wffs are wffs

Quantifiers
The variable of predicates is quantified by quantifiers. There are two types of quantifier in
predicate logic − Universal Quantifier and Existential Quantifier.

Universal Quantifier

Universal quantifier states that the statements within its scope are true for every value of the
specific variable. It is denoted by the symbol ∀.

∀xP (x) is read as for every value of x, P(x) is true.

Example − "Man is mortal" can be transformed into the propositional form ∀xP (x) where
P(x) is the predicate which denotes x is mortal and the universe of discourse is all men.

Existential Quantifier

Existential quantifier states that the statements within its scope are true for some values of
the specific variable. It is denoted by the symbol ∃.

∃xP (x) is read as for some values of x, P(x) is true.

Example − "Some people are dishonest" can be transformed into the propositional form
∃xP (x) where P(x) is the predicate which denotes x is dishonest and the universe of

discourse is some people.

Nested Quantifiers

If we use a quantifier that appears within the scope of another quantifier, it is called nested
quantifier.

Example

∀ a ∃b P (x, y) where P (a, b) denotes a + b = 0

∀ a ∀ b ∀ c P (a, b, c) where P (a, b) denotes a + (b + c) = (a + b) + c

Note − ∀ a ∃b P (x, y) ≠ ∃a ∀b P (x, y)