Statements and Logical Operators (Propositional Calculus) (CO4)

The term calculus is a generic name for any area of Mathematics that
concerns itself with calculating.
For example, arithmetic could be called the calculus of numbers.
Propositional calculus is then the calculus of propositions.

Definition:
A proposition or statement, is any declarative sentence which is either
true (T) or false (F). We refer T or F as the truth value of the statement.
Example 1 Propositions
The sentence "2+2 = 4" is a statement, since it can be either true or false.

Since it happens to be a true statement, its truth value is T.

The sentence "1 = 0" is also a statement, but its truth value is F.

"It will rain tomorrow" is a proposition. For its truth value we shall have to
wait for tomorrow.
"Solve the following equation for x" is not a statement, as it cannot be assigned any truth
value whatsoever.
(It is an imperative, or command, rather than a declarative sentence.)
"The number 5" is not a proposition, since it is not even a complete sentence.
Example 1B Self-Referential Sentences
"This statement is false" gets us into a bind: If it were true, then, since it is declaring itself
to be false, it must be false. On the other hand, if it were false, then its declaring itself false
is a lie, so it is true! In other words, if it is true, then it is false, and if it is false, then it is
true, and we go around in circles. We get out of this bind by refusing to accord it the
privileges of statementhood. In other words, it is not a statement. An equivalent pseudo-
statement is: "I am lying," so we call this the liar's paradox.
“What are self-referential sentences, the sentences which refer to
themselves.

Here are some rather amusing examples of

self-referential sentences

"This sentence asserts absolutely nothing."

"While the last sentence had nothing to say, this sentence says a lot."
BASIC LOGICAL OPERATIONS:
There are some key words and phrases which are used
to form new propositions from given propositions as for
example “and” “ or”,”not”,“ if …then…” and “if and only if”.
These are called logical operators or logical connectives.
A proposition which contains some
Logical connectives is called a “ compound proposition”
Or “molecular statement” and a statement containing no
logical connectives is called a simple statement or
“atomic statement”.
Examples of compound propositions:
1. A triangle is a plane figure and is bounded by three lines.
2. Any real number is rational or irrational.
3. This year is not a leap year.
Connectives (CO4)
In propositional logic generally we use five connectives which are −
• OR (∨)
• AND (∧)
• Negation/ NOT (¬)
• Implication / if-then (→)
• If and only if (⇔)
OR (∨) (CO4)
• 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 −

A B A∨B

True True True

True False True

False True True

False False False

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 −

A B A∧B

True True True

True False False

False True False

False False False

Negation/ NOT (¬) (CO4)
• 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 −

A ¬A

True False

False True
Implication / if-then (→) (CO4)
• 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 −
A B A→B

True True True

True False False

False True True

False False True

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 −

A B A⇔B
True True True
True False False
False True False
False False True
Tautologies (CO4)
• 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 −
[( A → B ) ∧
A B A→B (A → B) ∧ A
A] → B

True True True True True

True False False False True
False True True False True
False False True False True
Contradictions (CO4)
• 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 −
(A ∨ B)
(¬ A) ∧ ∧ [( ¬
A B A∨B ¬A ¬B
( ¬ B) A) ∧ (¬
B)]
True True True False False False False
True False True False True False False
False True True True False False False
False False False True True True False
Contingency (CO4)
• 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 −
(A ∨ B) ∧
A B A∨B ¬A
(¬ A)
True True True False False
True False True False False
False True True True True
False False False True False
Inverse, Converse, and Contra-positive
(CO4)
• Implication / if-then (→) is also called a conditional statement. It has
two parts −
Hypothesis, p
Conclusion, q
• 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 (CO4)
• 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 (CO4)
• 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 (CO4)
• 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.
Logical Equivalence (CO5)

Suppose there are two compound statements, X and Y, which will be

known as logical equivalence if and only if the truth table of both of
them contains the same truth values in their columns. With the help
of symbol = or ⇔, we can represent the logical equivalence. So X = Y
or X ⇔ Y will be the logical equivalence of these statements.
With the help of the logical equivalence definition, we have cleared
that if the compound statements X and Y are logical equivalence, in
this case, the X ⇔ Y must be Tautology.
 Laws of Logical Equivalence (CO5)
Idempotent Law:
In the idempotent law, we only use a single statement. According to this law, if we combine two same
statements with the symbol ∧(and) and ∨(or), then the resultant statement will be the statement
itself. Suppose there is a compound statement P. The following notation is used to indicate the
idempotent law:
P∨P=P
P∧P=P
Commutative Laws:
The two statements are used to show the commutative law. According to this law, if we combine two
statements with the symbol ∧(and) or ∨(or), then the resultant statement will be the same even if
we change the position of the statements. Suppose there are two statements, P and Q. The
proposition of these statements will be false when both statements P and Q are false. In all the
other cases, it will be true. The following notation is used to indicate the commutative law:
• P∨Q=Q∨P
 Laws of Logical Equivalence (CO5)
• Associative Law:
• The three statements are used to show the associative law. According to this
law, if we combine three statements with the help of brackets by the symbol
∧(and) or ∨(or), then the resultant statement will be the same even if we
change the order of brackets. That means this law is independent of grouping or
association. Suppose there are three statements P, Q and R. The proposition of
these statements will be false when P, Q and R are false. In all the other cases, it
will be true. The following notation is used to indicate the associative law:
• P ∨ (Q ∨ R) = (P ∨ Q) ∨ R
• P ∧ (Q ∧ R) = (P ∧ Q) ∧ R
• Same as Distributive Law and P ∨ (Q ∧ R) = (P ∨ Q) ∧ (P ∨ R)
• P ∧ (Q ∨ R) = (P ∧ Q) ∨ (P ∧ R)
 Laws of Logical Equivalence (CO5)
• Complement Law
• P ∨ ¬P = T and P ∧ ¬P = F
• ¬T = F and ¬F = T
• De Morgan's Law:
• The two statements are used to show De Morgan's law. According to this law, if
we combine two statements with the symbol ∧(AND) and then do the negation
of these combined statements, then the resultant statement will be the same
even if we combine the negation of both statements separately with the symbol
∨(OR). Suppose there are two compound statements, P and Q. The following
notation is used to indicate De Morgan's Law:
• ¬(P ∧ Q) = ¬P ∨ ¬Q
• ¬(P ∨ Q) = ¬P ∧ ¬Q
Relevant Books
• Textbooks
C.L. Liu “Elements of Discrete Mathematics". McGraw Hill, 3rd Edition.
Santha,"Discrete Mathematics with Graph Theory, Cengage Learning, 1st
Edition.
• Reference Books
B. Kolaman, and R.C. Busby, “Discrete Mathematical Structures”, PHI, 1st
Edition.
Gersting, L. Judith “Mathematical Structures for computer Science”,
Computer Science Press.
• Links for e-book:
http://discrete.openmathbooks.org/pdfs/dmoi-tablet.pdf
References
• Other Resources
Discrete Mathematics - Propositional Logic (tutorialspoint.com)
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/discrete_mathematics/discrete_mathematics_p
ropositional_logic.htm