Malawi University of Science and Technology 2015

Unit: 9

Logic

9.0 Introduction

In this unit, you will learn some basic concepts of logic. How to build compound
statement by connectives such as; and, or and not will also be discussed. You will also
learn how to prove mathematical statements by truth tables.

9.1 Objectives of the Unit

By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
 Define a statement or proposition.
 Draw truth tables for the following connectives; and, or, not, implies and if and
only if.
 Prove mathematical statements by truth tables.
 Determine that the given statement forms are logically equivalent or not.

9.2 Key Terms

You will find the following key terms or phrases in this unit. Watch for these and make
sure that you understand what they mean and how they are used in this unit.
Statement
And
Or
Not
Implies
If and only if
Truth table
Equivalence
Contradiction
Tautology
Conditional

9.3 Compound Statements

9.3.1 Definition of Statement or Proposition

A statement or a proposition is a sentence that can be labelled as being either true or
false but not both and without ambiguity. Some examples of statements are;
(a) 5  3  8
(b) 9  4  11
(c) 4 is a square of 2
An example of a sentence which is not a statement is x  y  0
This is not a statement because it is true for some values of x and y but false for others.
The expressions and, or and not are called connectives because they have the role of
building compound statements. Given statements p and q, we can produce compound
statements in the following ways
(a) AND
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It is called conjunction effect on truth. P and q is true if and only if both p and
q are true. The symbol for and is  . For example p and q is the same as pq .
We can think of a logical expression as a function of its constituent statements,
each of which can take a value of T (true) or F (false). The output of the function
is again in the set T, F . This leads to truth tables for statement forms to
determine the truth value of compound statements.

The following is the truth table for the connective and;

p q P ∧q
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F F

(b) OR
It is called disjunction, its symbol is ∨. P or q is true if and only if atleast p, q is
true (is true if either (or both) p and q are true. Its truth table is

p q pq
T T T
T F T
F T T
F F
F

NOTE: The inclusivennss of or. The or in the informal statement “I will either
take Physics or Mathematics” is exclusive and means that I will take just one of
the two. Logical or is inclusive and would mean that I could also take both.
(c) NOT
The statement not p is called negation. Its symbol is ∽. Not p is true if and only
if p is false. Its truth value table is as follows;

p ∽p
T F
F T

Example 9. 1
Negate the following statement: “It is true that x  10 ” which symbolically is the same
as " x  10".
Solution
The negation of the statement is : “It is not true that x  10 ”.

Example 9.2

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Construct the truth table for the statement form p ∨ (∼ q ∧ r)

Proof
p q r ∽q ∽q  r p ∨ (∼ q ∧ r)
T T T F F T
T T F F F T
T F T T T T
T F F T F T
F T T F F F
F T F F F F
F F T T T T
F F F T F F

Activity 9 a
1. Indicate which of the following sentences is a statement
i. 1,024 is the smallest 4 digit number that is a perfect square
ii. She is a mathematics major
iii. 128  26
iv. x  26
2. Negate the following statements:
i. x  8 (ii) x  3 (iii) 1  x  2
3. Construct the truth table for the statement form  p  q   ~  pq 

9.4 Logical Equivalence

Two statement forms are equivalent if they have the same truth values of any possible
substitution of values for their variables.
Example 9.3
Verify the following logical equivalence
  p  p (double negation)

Proof
p p   p
T F T
F T F

The first and last columns have the same truth values. Therefore, they are equivalent.
A famous pair of equivalences are the two de Morgan’s laws;
i.   p  q   p  q (change and to or)
ii.   p  q   p   q (change or to and)
Example 9.4
Verify the following logical equivalence by using truth table.
  p  q   p  q (first De Morgan’s law)
Proof

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p q p q pq  ( p  q)  p  q
T T F F T F F
T F F T F T T
F T T F F T T

F F T F F T T

The last two columns have the same truth values, therefore are equivalent.
Example 9.5
Negate the following statements:
i. Chikumbutso is six feet tall and he weighs at least 80 kilograms.
ii. The bus was late or my watch was slow
Solutions
i. Chikumbutso is not six feet tall or he weighs at less than 80 kilograms
ii. The bus was not late and my watch was not slow.

Activity 9 b
1. Verify the following logical equivalence by using truth table;
  p  q   p   q (second De Morgan’s law)
2. Show by truth table that   p  q  is not equivalent to  p  q
3. Negate the following statements:
i. “ 2 is a fraction.”
ii. “The connector is loose or the machine is unplugged.”

9.5 Contradiction and Tautology

9.5.1 Definition of Contradiction

A contradiction is a statement form that always has truth value F.
Example 9.6
Show that p  p is a contradiction.
Proof
p p p  p
T F F
F T F

9.5.2 Definition of Tautology

A tautology is a logical form that has the truth value of T for all possible assignments.
Example 9.7
Show that p  p is a contradiction.
Proof

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p p p  p
T F T
F T T

Activity 9 c
Show the following statements as contradiction or tautology
a)  p  q     p     q  (b)  p  q     p     q  

9.6 Conditional Statements

Let us consider the following statement;

If 4, 686, 553 is divisible by 6 then 4, 686,553 is divisible by 3.
What is new here is the form if … then… as a logical form. This an example of a
conditional statement. There are two types of conditional statements namely; “implies”
and “if and only if”.

9.6.1 Definition of “Implies,” Conditional Statement

The conditional statement q by p is the sentence “if p then q”. It is symbolised by
“p⟹q” and also expressed as “p implies q”. Component p is called hypothesis and q is
called conclusion of the conditional statement.
p⟹q is true means the following
i. If p is true then q must be true.
ii. If p is false then q must be either true or false and one can not say which.
The following is the truth table for the logical operator “implies”:
p q p⟹q
T T T
T F F
F T T
F F T

Example 9.8
Show that p⟹ q≡~p ∨ q
Solution
p q ~p p⟹ q ~p∨q
T T F T T
T F F F F
F T T T T
F F T T T

Since the last two columns have the same truth values then the two statements are
equivalent.
Example 9.9
Show that the negation of p⟹ q is p ∧ ~ q
Proof

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p⟹ q≡~p ∨ q (example 8.8)

but ~ ( ~p ∨ q ) ≡ p ∧ ~ q (de Morgan’s law)
so ~ (p⟹ q ) ≡ p ∧ ~ q
NOTE: The negation of a conditional is not another conditional. You should also not
⟹ changes to “and not” i. e “∧ ~”.
Example 9. 10
Negate the following statements:
i. If f is continuous then f is differentiable
ii. 5 258
Solutions
i. f is continuous and f is not differentiable
ii. 5  2 and 5  8
9.6.2 The converse, Inverse and Contrapositive
Given an if-then statement "if p, then q", we can create three related statements.
(a) To form the converse of the conditional statement, interchange the hypothesis
and the conclusion.
i.e if q then p
(b) To form the inverse of the conditional statement, take the negation of both the
hypothesis and the conclusion.
i.e if not p then not q
(c) To form the contrapositive of the conditional statement, interchange the
hypothesis and the conclusion of the inverse statement
i.e If not q then not p
The contrapositive of a conditional statement is formed by negating both the
hypothesis and the conclusion, and then interchanging the resulting negations.
In other words, the contrapositive negates and switches the parts of the
sentence. It does BOTH the jobs of the INVERSE and the CONVERSE.

If the statement is true, then the contrapositive is also logically true. If the converse is
true, then the inverse is also logically true. In other ways, condition statement and its
contrapositive are logically equivalent. Converse and inverse of a conditional stamen
are also logically equivalent.

Example 9.11
Suppose the conditional statement is "If 9 is an odd number, then 9 is divisible by
2." State
i. Its convenes
ii. Its inverse
iii. Its contrapositive

Solution

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i. Its converse is “If 9 is divisible by 2, then 9 is an odd number”

ii. Its inverse is “If 9 is not an odd number, then 9 is not divisible by 2”
iii. Its transpose is “If 9 is not divisible by 2, then 9 is not an odd number ”

9.6.3 Definition of “if and only if “– Biconditional

Let p and q be statements variables then the biconditional of p and q is the statement
form “p if and only if q” which means p⟹ q and q ⟹ p. The biconditional is given the
symbol p ⟺ q and is abbreviated “p iff q”. The biconditional is true when and only
when p and q have the same truth value. The following is a truth table for p ⟺ q;
p q p⟺q
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F T
Example 9.12
Construct the truth table for the following
p∧~r⟺q∨r
Solution
p q r ~r p∧~r q∨r p∧~r⟺q∨r
T T T F F T F
T T F T T T T
T F T F F T F
T F F T T F F
F T T F F T F
F T F T F T F
F F T F F T F

Activity 9d
1. Negate the following statements
a) If today is bakili day, then tomorrow is Bingu day.
b) If a sequence is convergent, then it has just one limit.
c) If two angles are congruent, then they have the same measure.
2. Write
a) The converse of each of the statement above
b) The inverse of each of the statement above
c) Contrapositive of each of the statement above
3. Show that p  q ~ q ~ p
4. Construct the truth table for the following
~  p and ~ q   ~ p or q

9. 7 Quantified Statements

The statements
Tembo is good at mathematics
Tiyamike is good at mathematics

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Share the common expression “is good at mathematics” which is called a predicate,
P(x).

9.7.1 Quantifiers: , 
Although the expression “he is good at mathematics” using the predicate P(x) above
does not give a statement; we can get statements with the qualification for all, for every,
for some, there exists, as in the following examples:
“every woman is good at mathematics”
“some women are good at mathematics”
“there is a woman that is good at mathematics”
These are called quantified statements: each is clearly either true or false.
We use the following symbols;
x W , P( x) means, for all x W , P( x) is true.

x W : P( x) means, for some x W , P( x) is true.

”  ” is read as “for all” and is called universal quantifier. “For all” is also written as
“For every”, ”For each” or “For any”. “  ” is read as “there exists” and is called
existential quantifier. it can be written as ”some”.
Example 9.13
Write down the following statements using the quantifiers , 

a) For every real number x there is a real number y such that y3  x

b) There is a real number y such that for every real number x , the sum x  y is
positive
Solutions

a) x  , y  : y  x
3

b) y  : x  , x  y  0
Example 9.14
What do the following statements mean?
a) x  , x 2  0
b) y  : x 2  0
Solutions
a) For all real number x , x 2 is non-negative
b) There exists a real number y such that x 2 is non-negative

9.7.2 Negating Quantified Statements

The rule of negating quantifiers is to interchange all  ' s to  ' s and vice versa then
negate all the predicates and work from outer brackets inwards.
The following is a summary of negation of quantifiers;

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Statement Negation
x W , P( x) x W :~ P( x)
x W : P( x) x W , ~ P( x)

Example 9.15
Write the negation of the following
a) Some people cannot speak Chichewa
b) Every polynomial function is continuous
c)  real number x , if x  3 then x 2  9
Solutions
a) All people can speak Chichewa
b) There exists a polynomial that is not continuous
c)  real number x : x  3 and x2  9
Activity 9e
1. Negate the following
a) x, y :  x  y or x  20 
b)  , N : x n  L   if n  N
2. Write down the following statements using the quantifiers , 
a) For all number x there is a real number y such that x  y
b) There exists number x that for all negative real number y, x  y

9.8 Unit Summary

In this unit, you should have learnt what logic is, how to use logic operators and truth
tables. You have also proved some relationships by using truth tables.

9.9 Unit Test

1. Construct the truth table for the following:

i. ~ (~ p ∧ ~ q)
ii. ~ (p ∧ ~q ) ⟺ ~ p ∨ q
iii.  q  p    ~ p ~ q 
2. Negate following statements
i. x 8
ii. x3
iii. 1 x  2
iv. 20 < 100 ⟹ 20 < 15
v. Hal is a math major and Hal’s sister is a computer science major.
3. Show that the following statements are all logically equivalent
a) p ⟹ q ∨ r, p ∧ ~ q ⟹ r, p ∧ ~ r ⟹ q
b)  p  q   q  p  and p  q .

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