Saint Mary’s University

3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya

School of Teacher Education and Humanities
Mathematics Department

Pre-Assessment

Find out how much you already know about logic. Take note of the items that you were not able to
answer correctly and find the right answer as you go through this material.

1. Michael, Junifen, Cerion, Geraldine, Gemma and Lorraine graduated from the same university
with teaching degrees in Mathematics, and after passing the LET, they took teaching jobs in
different cities. The cities in no particular order are Baguio, Cebu, San Carlos, Davao, Tacloban and
Laoag. From the following statements determine where the Mathematics teachers got their teaching
assignment.
a. Geraldine did not get a job in Baguio and Cerion did not move to Davao.
b. Lorraine hoped to get a job in Tacloban but did not.
c. Junifen got a job in Laoag and Gemma got the job she wanted in San Carlos City.
d. Geraldine turned down the job in Cebu after Lorraine took the job in Davao.
e. Michael took the job in Cebu.

2. A balut- vendor was carrying a basket of baluts. A man riding a motorcycle hit the basket and broke
the baluts. When asked how many baluts he had; the vendor replied,” When I counted them by twos,
there was one left over, when I counted by threes there was one left over. When I counted them by
fours , there was one left over , but when I counted by fives no baluts were left over.” What is the
least number of baluts in the basket?

3. Nica often misplaces her cellphone. To teach her a lesson, one of her four friends took it but kept it
safely hidden. When she asked her friends about it, she knew that all were lying except for one.

Annie: Weng took it.

Gerome: Donna did not take it.

Weng: Annie and Donna were nowhere near your phone.

Donna: Gerome did not take it.

Who took Nica’s cellphone?

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No part of this lecture may be produced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without
permission in writing from the author, excerpt by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.
 Saint Mary’s University
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya
School of Teacher Education and Humanities
Mathematics Department

Logic

Logic is one of the oldest intellectual disciplines in human history. We use Logic in our personal
lives, in our professional activities; in just about everything we do. We use logical reasoning to derive
conclusions and make sound decisions.

Proposition (or statement) is a declarative statement (in contrast to a command, a question, or

an exclamation) which is true or false, but not both.

Example:

Proposition Not a proposition

Zero is a real number. Is a square a rectangle?
A circle is an ellipse. Very good!
Any nonzero number divides itself. Are equal sets equivalent?
1+1 = 2 x+1=2
2+2 = 3 Answer this item.

Compound sentences are formed from simpler sentences and express relationships among the
constituent sentences. These are formed using the connectives and, or, if … then, and if and only if.
These five types of compound sentences are called negation, conjunction, disjunction, implication,
and biconditional respectively.

A negation consists of the negation operator ¬ and an arbitrary sentence, called the target. Given the
sentence p, the negation of p is ¬p.

Examples: 1. If p is the statement “ Marians are competent.”, then its negation ¬p is “ Marians are not
competent.” or “ Marians are incompetent.”

2. If p is the statement “a divides y.”, then its negation ¬p is “a does not divide y.”

The negation of quantified statements is given below.

𝑛𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
All 𝑋 are 𝑌.↔ Some 𝑋 are not 𝑌.
𝑛𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
No 𝑋 are 𝑌.↔ Some 𝑋 are 𝑌.

Examples: 1. All Marians are competent.

Its negation is “Some Marians are not competent.”

2. No Marians are irresponsible.

Its negation is “Some Marians are irresponsible.”

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No part of this lecture may be produced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without
permission in writing from the author, excerpt by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.
 Saint Mary’s University
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya
School of Teacher Education and Humanities
Mathematics Department

Basic Logical Operations

A conjunction is a sequence of sentences separated by occurrences of the ∧ operator. The constituent

sentences are called conjuncts. The conjunction of p and q is p ∧ q.

Let p: Math is fun.

q: I love Math.

r: Mathematics develops critical thinking.

The conjunction of p and q is p ∧ q: Math is fun and I love Math. (Math is fun and I love it.)

p ∧ r: Math is fun and Mathematics develops critical thinking.

. (Math is fun and it develops critical thinking.)

A disjunction is a sequence of sentences separated by occurrences of the ∨ operator. The constituent

sentences are called disjuncts. The disjunction of p and q is p ∨ q.

An implication or conditional consists of a pair of sentences separated by the ⇒ operator. The

sentence to the left of the operator is called the antecedent, and the sentence to the right is called the
consequent. The implication of p and q is p ⇒ q.

Remark: The conditional “if 𝑝, then 𝑞” can be stated, in English, in several equivalents forms.

a. 𝑝 only if 𝑞;

b. 𝑝 implies that q;

c. 𝑞 provided that 𝑝

Statements Related to the Conditional Statement

• The converse of 𝑝 → 𝑞 is 𝑞 → 𝑝.
• The inverse of 𝑝 → 𝑞 is ~𝑝 → ~𝑞.
• The contrapositive of 𝑝 → 𝑞 is ~𝑞 → ~𝑝.

Remark: A conditional and its contrapositive are equivalent statements. Therefore, if the contrapositive
of a conditional statement is a true statement, then the conditional statement must also be a
true statement.

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No part of this lecture may be produced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without
permission in writing from the author, excerpt by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.
 Saint Mary’s University
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya
School of Teacher Education and Humanities
Mathematics Department

Let p: You study diligently.

q: You will pass GMath.

The implication p ⇒ q is if you study diligently then you will pass GMath.
The converse 𝑞 → 𝑝 is if you pass GMath then you studied diligently.
The inverse ~𝑝 → ~𝑞 is if you will not study diligently then you will not pass GMath.
The contrapositive~𝑞 → ~𝑝 is if you did not pass GMath then you did not study diligently.

A biconditional is a combination of an implication and a reverse implication. The biconditional of p and q

is if p only if q or in symbols, p ⇔ q.

What is the biconditonal statement of the example above? ____________________________________

The propositional connectives ˄, ˅, ⊕, ⇒, and ⇔ (called conjunction, disjunction, exclusive or,

implication, and biconditional, respectively) are defined by the following truth tables.

p q p˄q p˅q p⊕q p⇒q p⇔ q

T T T T F T T
T F F T T F F
F T F T T T F
F F F F F T T

Example 1. Complete the table below for the compound statement [(p  q)  p]  q.
p Q pq (p  q)  p [(p  q)  p]  q
T T T T T
T F F F T
F T F F T
F F T F T

Ecercise 3.1. Compute the truth table for the following:

A. P  (Q)
B. Q  (P)
C. P  (Q)
D. (P  Q)
E. (Q)  (P)
F. (P  Q)  (P  Q)

Tautologies, Contradictions and Contingency

A compound proposition that is always true, regardless of the truth values of the propositions that occur
in it, is called tautology. A Contradiction is a compound proposition that is always false while a
contingency is neither tautology nor a contradiction.

Copyright ©2020. All rights reserved.

No part of this lecture may be produced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without
permission in writing from the author, excerpt by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.
 Saint Mary’s University
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya
School of Teacher Education and Humanities
Mathematics Department

Example. Construct the truth tables for (p → q) v (q → p) and determine if it’s a tautology.
P q (p → q) (q → p) (p → q) v (q → p)
T T T T T
T F F T T
F T T F T
F F T T T
Thus (p → q) v (q → p) is a tautology

Exercise 3. 2. Determine the following whether it is tautology, contradiction or contingency.

A. P  (P)
B. P  P
C. (P  (P)  Q

Two statements are equivalent if they both have the same truth value for all possible truth values
of their simple statements. The notation 𝑝 ≡ 𝑞 is used to indicate that the statements 𝑝 and 𝑞 are
logically equivalent.

Example. Determine if ¬ (p ˅ q) and ¬p ˄ ¬q are logically equivalent.

p q (p ∨ q) ¬(p ∨ q) ¬p ¬q ¬p ∧ ¬q
T T T F F F F
T F T F F T F
F T T F T F F
F F F T T T T
Thus ¬ (p ˅ q) and ¬p ˄ ¬q are logically equivalent.

Exercise 3.3: For each of the following pairs of sentences, determine whether or not the
sentences are logically equivalent.

A. (p ⇒ q ∨ r) and (p ∧ q ⇒ r)
B. (p ⇒ (q ⇒ r)) and (p ∧ q ⇒ r)
C. (p ∧ q ⇒ r) and (p ∧ r ⇒ q)
D. ((p ⇒ q ∨ r) ∧ (p ⇒ r)) and (q ⇒ r)
E. ((p ⇒ q) ∨ (q ⇒ r)) and (p ∨ ¬p)

Copyright ©2020. All rights reserved.

No part of this lecture may be produced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without
permission in writing from the author, excerpt by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.
 Saint Mary’s University
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya
School of Teacher Education and Humanities
Mathematics Department

Algebra of Propositions: Laws of Logical Equivalence

De Morgan’s Laws for Statements

For any statements 𝑝 and 𝑞, ~(𝑝 ∨ 𝑞) ≡ ~𝑝 ∧ ~𝑞 and ~(𝑝 ∧ 𝑞) ≡ ~𝑝 ∨ ~𝑞

Symbolic Forms of Arguments

Standard Forms of Four Valid Arguments

Direct Contrapositive Transitive Disjunctive
reasoning reasoning reasoning reasoning
𝑝→𝑞 𝑝→𝑞 𝑝→𝑞 𝑝∨𝑞 𝑝∨𝑞
𝑝 ~𝑞 𝑞→𝑟 ~𝑝 ~𝑞

∴𝑞 ∴ ~𝑝 ∴𝑝→𝑟 ∴𝑞 ∴𝑝

Standard Forms of Two Invalid Arguments

Fallacy of the converse Fallacy of the inverse
𝑝→𝑞 𝑝→𝑞
𝑞 ~𝑝
∴𝑝 ∴ ~𝑞

The simplest form of reasoning is direct reasoning. This type of argument consists of two
premises, or hypotheses, and a conclusion. For example,
𝑝→𝑞 If you receive a 90 on the final, then you will pass to course.

𝑝 You receive a 90 on the final.

∴𝑞 Therefore, you pass the course.
What distinguishes a correct pattern from one that is incorrect is that it must always lead to correct
conclusions, i.e. conclusions that are logically entailed by the premises. As we will see, this is the
defining criterion for what we call deduction.

Copyright ©2020. All rights reserved.

No part of this lecture may be produced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without
permission in writing from the author, excerpt by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.
 Saint Mary’s University
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya
School of Teacher Education and Humanities
Mathematics Department

Now, it is noteworthy that there are patterns of reasoning that are sometimes useful but do not satisfy
this strict criterion. There is inductive reasoning, abductive reasoning, reasoning by analogy, and so
forth.

Induction is reasoning from the particular to the general. The example shown below illustrates this. If we
see enough cases in which something is true and we never see a case in which it is false, we tend to
conclude that it is always true.

I have seen 1000 black ravens.

I have never seen a raven that is not black.
Therefore, every raven is black.
Now try red Hondas.

Abduction is reasoning from effects to possible causes. Many things can cause an observed result. We
often tend to infer a cause even when our enumeration of possible causes is incomplete.

If there is no fuel, the car will not start.

If there is no spark, the car will not start.
There is spark.
The car will not start.
Therefore, there is no fuel.
What if the car is in a vacuum chamber?

Reasoning by analogy is reasoning in which we infer a conclusion based on similarity of two situations,
as in the following example.

The flow in a pipe is proportional to its diameter.

Wires are like pipes.
Therefore, the current in a wire is proportional to diameter.
Now try price.

Of all types of reasoning, deductive reasoning is the only one that guarantees its conclusions in all
cases. It has some very special properties and holds a unique place in Logic. In this book, we
concentrate entirely on deduction and leave these other forms of reasoning to others.

Copyright ©2020. All rights reserved.

No part of this lecture may be produced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without
permission in writing from the author, excerpt by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.