Logic

Logic:
• defines a formal language for representing knowledge and for
making logical inferences
• It helps us to understand how to construct a valid argument

Logic defines:
• Syntax of statements
• The meaning of statements
• The rules of logical inference (manipulation)

Propositional logic
• The simplest logic

• Definition:
– A proposition is a statement that is either true or false.

• Examples:
– Pitt is located in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh.
• (T)
– 5 + 2 = 8.
• (F)
– It is raining today.
• (either T or F)

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 Propositional logic
• Examples (cont.):
– How are you?
• a question is not a proposition
– x+5=3
• since x is not specified, neither true nor false
– 2 is a prime number.
• (T)
– She is very talented.
• since she is not specified, neither true nor false
– There are other life forms on other planets in the universe.
• either T or F

Composite statements
• More complex propositional statements can be build from
elementary statements using logical connectives.

Example:
• Proposition A: It rains outside
• Proposition B: We will see a movie
• A new (combined) proposition:
If it rains outside then we will see a movie

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 Composite statements
• More complex propositional statements can be build from
elementary statements using logical connectives.

• Logical connectives:
– Negation
– Conjunction
– Disjunction
– Exclusive or
– Implication
– Biconditional

Negation
Definition: Let p be a proposition. The statement "It is not the
case that p." is another proposition, called the negation of p. The
negation of p is denoted by ¬ p and read as "not p."
Example:
• Pitt is located in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh.

• It is not the case that Pitt is located in the Oakland section of
Pittsburgh.
Other examples:
– 5 + 2  8.
– 10 is not a prime number.
– It is not the case that buses stop running at 9:00pm.

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 Negation
• Negate the following propositions:
– It is raining today.
• It is not raining today.
– 2 is a prime number.
• 2 is not a prime number
– There are other life forms on other planets in the universe.
• It is not the case that there are other life forms on other
planets in the universe.

Negation
• A truth table displays the relationships between truth
values (T or F) of different propositions.

p ¬p
T F
F T

Rows: all possible

values of elementary
propositions:

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 Conjunction
• Definition: Let p and q be propositions. The proposition "p
and q" denoted by p  q, is true when both p and q are true
and is false otherwise. The proposition p  q is called the
conjunction of p and q.

• Examples:
– Pitt is located in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh and 5 +
2=8
– It is raining today and 2 is a prime number.
– 2 is a prime number and 5 + 2  8.
– 13 is a perfect square and 9 is a prime.

Disjunction
• Definition: Let p and q be propositions. The proposition "p
or q" denoted by p  q, is false when both p and q are false
and is true otherwise. The proposition p  q is called the
disjunction of p and q.

• Examples:
– Pitt is located in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh or 5 + 2
= 8.
– It is raining today or 2 is a prime number.
– 2 is a prime number or 5 + 2  8.
– 13 is a perfect square or 9 is a prime.

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 Truth tables
• Conjunction and disjunction
• Four different combinations of values for p and q

p q pq pq
T T
T F
F T
F F

Rows: all possible combinations of values for

elementary propositions: 2n values

Truth tables
• Conjunction and disjunction
• Four different combinations of values for p and q

p q pq pq
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F F

• NB: p  q (the or is used inclusively, i.e., p  q is true when

either p or q or both are true).

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 Truth tables
• Conjunction and disjunction
• Four different combinations of values for p and q

p q pq pq
T T T T
T F F T
F T F T
F F F F

• NB: p  q (the or is used inclusively, i.e., p  q is true when

either p or q or both are true).

Exclusive or
• Definition: Let p and q be propositions. The proposition "p
exclusive or q" denoted by p  q, is true when exactly one of p
and q is true and it is false otherwise.

p q pq
T T F
T F T
F T T
F F F

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 Implication
• Definition: Let p and q be propositions. The proposition "p
implies q" denoted by p  q is called implication. It is false
when p is true and q is false and is true otherwise.

• In p  q, p is called the hypothesis and q is called the

conclusion.

p q pq
T T T
T F F
F T T
F F T

Implication
• p  q is read in a variety of equivalent ways:
• if p then q
• p only if q
• p is sufficient for q
• q whenever p

• Examples:
– if Steelers win the Super Bowl in 2013 then 2 is a prime.
• If F then T ?

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 Implication
• p  q is read in a variety of equivalent ways:
• if p then q
• p only if q
• p is sufficient for q
• q whenever p

• Examples:
– if Steelers win the Super Bowl in 2013 then 2 is a prime.
•T
– if today is Tuesday then 2 * 3 = 8.
• What is the truth value ?

Implication
• p  q is read in a variety of equivalent ways:
• if p then q
• p only if q
• p is sufficient for q
• q whenever p

• Examples:
– if Steelers win the Super Bowl in 2013 then 2 is a prime.
•T
– if today is Tuesday then 2 * 3 = 8.
• If T then F

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 Implication
• p  q is read in a variety of equivalent ways:
• if p then q
• p only if q
• p is sufficient for q
• q whenever p

• Examples:
– if Steelers win the Super Bowl in 2013 then 2 is a prime.
•T
– if today is Tuesday then 2 * 3 = 8.
•F

Implication
• The converse of p  q is q  p.
• The contrapositive of p  q is ¬q  ¬p
• The inverse of p  q is ¬p  ¬q

• Examples:
• If it snows, the traffic moves slowly.
• p: it snows q: traffic moves slowly.
• pq
– The converse:
If the traffic moves slowly then it snows.
• qp

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 Implication
• The contrapositive of p  q is ¬q  ¬p
• The inverse of p  q is ¬p  ¬q

• Examples:
• If it snows, the traffic moves slowly.
– The contrapositive:
• If the traffic does not move slowly then it does not
snow.
• ¬q  ¬p
– The inverse:
• If it does not snow the traffic moves quickly.
• ¬p  ¬q

Biconditional
• Definition: Let p and q be propositions. The biconditional p
 q (read p if and only if q), is true when p and q have the
same truth values and is false otherwise.

p q pq
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F T

• Note: two truth values always agree.

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 Constructing the truth table
• Example: Construct the truth table for
(p  q)  (¬p  q) Typically the target
(unknown) compound
proposition and its
values
p q ¬p pq ¬p  q (pq)
(¬pq)
T T
T F
F T Auxiliary compound
F F propositions and their
values

Constructing the truth table

• Examples: Construct a truth table for
(p  q)  (¬p  q)

p q ¬p pq ¬p  q (pq)
(¬pq)
T T F
T F F
F T T
F F T

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 Constructing the truth table
• Examples: Construct a truth table for
(p  q)  (¬p  q)

p q ¬p pq ¬p  q (pq)
(¬pq)
T T F T
T F F F
F T T T
F F T T

Constructing the truth table

• Examples: Construct a truth table for
(p  q)  (¬p  q)

p q ¬p pq ¬p  q (pq)
(¬pq)
T T F T F
T F F F T
F T T T T
F F T T F

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 Constructing the truth table
• Examples: Construct a truth table for
(p  q)  (¬p  q)
Simpler if we decompose the sentence to elementary and
intermediate propositions

p q ¬p pq ¬p  q (pq)
(¬pq)
T T F T F F
T F F F T F
F T T T T T
F F T T F F

Tautology and Contradiction

What is a tautology?
• A compound proposition that is always true for all possible
truth values of the propositions is called a tautology.
•
Example: p  ¬p is a tautology.

p ¬p p  ¬p
T F T
F T T

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 Tautology and Contradiction

What is a contradiction?
• A compound proposition that is always false is called a
contradiction.

Example: p  ¬p is a contradiction.

p ¬p p  ¬p
T F F
F T F

Equivalence
• How do we determine that two propositions are equivalent?
Their truth values in the truth table are the same.
• Example: p  q is equivalent to ¬q  ¬p (contrapositive)

p q pq ¬q  ¬p
T T T T
T F F F
F T T T
F F T T

• Equivalent statements are important for logical reasoning

since they can be substituted and can help us to make a logical
argument.

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 Logical equivalence

• Definition: The propositions p and q are called logically

equivalent if p  q is a tautology (alternately, if they have the
same truth table). The notation p <=> q denotes p and q are
logically equivalent.

a b (a  b) <->
ab ¬a  ¬b
(¬a  ¬b)
T T T T T
T F F F T
F T T T T
F F T T T

Important logical equivalences

• Identity
– p  T <=> p
– p  F <=> p

• Domination
– p  T <=> T
– p  F <=> F

• Idempotent
– p  p <=> p
– p  p <=> p

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 Important logical equivalences
• Double negation
– ¬(¬p) <=> p

• Commutative
– p  q <=> q  p
– p  q <=> q  p

• Associative
– (p  q)  r <=> p  (q  r)
– (p  q)  r <=> p  (q  r)

Important logical equivalences

• Distributive
– p  (q  r) <=> (p  q)  (p  r)
– p  (q  r) <=> (p  q)  (p  r)

• De Morgan
– ¬( p  q ) <=> ¬p  ¬q
– ( p  q ) <=> ¬p  ¬q

• Other useful equivalences

– p  ¬p <=> T
– p  ¬p <=> F
– p  q <=> (¬p  q)

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 Showing logical equivalence
Example: Show (p  q)  p is a tautology
In other words ((p  q)  p <=> T)

Proof via truth table:

p q pq (p  q)p
T T T T
T F F T
F T F T
F F F T

Showing logical equivalences

• Equivalences can be used in proofs. A proposition or its part
can be transformed using equivalences and some conclusion
can be reached.

Example: Show that (p  q)  p is a tautology.

• Proof: (we must show (p  q)  p <=> T)
(p  q)  p <=> ¬(p  q)  p Useful
<=> [¬p  ¬q]  p DeMorgan
<=> [¬q  ¬p]  p Commutative
<=> ¬q  [ ¬p  p ] Associative
<=> ¬q  [ T ] Useful
<=> T Domination

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