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Lecture Notes-Section 1.4

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Lecture Notes-Section 1.4

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Sajila MuBembe
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Section 1.

4: Predicates and Quantifiers

1. A Predicate or Propositional Function


P is a statement P (x) involving the variable x such
that P (x) is a proposition for each chosen value of x
from a set D. We call D the domain or universe
of the discourse of P .

Example: Let P (x) denote the statement : “x >


3.” What are the truth values of P (4) and P (2).

The truth value of P (4) is true because when x = 4,


the statement P (4) : “4 > 3” is true. The truth
value of P (2) is false because when x = 2, the state-
ment P (2) : “2 > 3” is false.

Example: Let A(x) denote the statement: “Com-


puter x is under attack by an intruder.” Suppose
that of the computers on campus, only CS2 and
MATH1 are currently under attack by intruders.
What are the truth values of A(CS1), A(CS2), and
A(MATH1)?

The truth value of A(CS1) is False because CS1


is NOT under attack. The truth value of A(CS2)
is True because CS2 is under attack. The truth
value of A(MATH1) is True because MATH1 is
under attack.

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2

Example: Let Q(x, y) denote the statement “x =


y + 3.” What are the truth values of the propositions
Q(1, 2) and Q(3, 0)?

The truth value of Q(1, 2) is False and the truth value


of Q(3, 0) is true.

Example: Let A(c, n) denote the statement “Com-


puter c is connected to network n” where c is a
variable representing a computer and n is a vari-
able representing a network. Suppose that the com-
puter MATH1 is connected to network CAM-
PUS 2, but not to network CAMPUS 1. What
are the truth values of A(MATH1, CAMPUS1)
and A(MATH1, CAMPUS2).

A(MATH1, CAMPUS1) is False and

A(MATH1, CAMPUS2) is True.

Example: Let R(x, y, z) denote the statement: “x+


y = z.” What are the truth values of R(1, 2, 3) and
R(0, 0, 1)?

R(1, 2, 3) is true and R(0, 0, 1) is false.(Why?)


3

2. Quantifications and Their Truth Values.

The universal quantification of P (x) is the


statement (or proposition): “P (x) for all values of
x in the domain.” The notation ∀x P (x) denotes the
universal quantification of P (x). Here ∀ is called
the universal quantifier. We read ∀x P (x) as “for
all x P (x) or for every x P (x). An element for which
P (x) is false is called a Counterexample of ∀x P (x).

For example, if P (x) is the statement “x is attend-


ing today’s class” where the domain for x consists of
all discrete mathematics students. Then the univer-
sal quantification ∀x P (x) is the statement: “Every
(or all) discrete mathematics student is attending
today’s class.”

The existential quantification of P (x) is the


statement (or proposition):“There exists an element
x in the domain such that P (x).” We use the no-
tation ∃x P (x) for the existential quantification of
P (x). Here ∃ is called the existential quantifier.

For example, if P (x) is the statement “x is absent


from today’s class” where the domain for x consists of
all discrete mathematics students. Then the existen-
tial quantification ∃xP (x) is the statement:“There
is (or exists) a discrete mathematics student who
is absent from today’s class.”
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The universal quantifier ∀x P (x) is either true or


false. So is the existential quantification of P (x).
Their truth values are summarized as follows:

Statement It is True if It is False if


∀x P (x) P (x) is true for Exists x such that
all x in the domain P (x) is False
∃x P (x) Exists an x for which P (x) is False for
P (x) is True each x in the domain

Example: Let P (x) be the statement “x + 1 >


x.” What is the truth value of the quantification
∀x P (x), where the domain consists of all real num-
bers?

It is true because statement P (x) : x + 1 > x is a


true statement for any real number x.

Example: Let Q(x) be the statement: “x < 2.”


What is the truth value of the quantification ∀x Q(x),
where the domain consists of all real numbers?

It is False because there is at least one x, for exam-


ple x = 3, such that the proposition: P (3) : 3 < 2 is
NOT true. Thus x = 3 is a counter-example.

Example: Show that the universal quantification


∀x P (x) of the statement P (x) : x2 > 0 is false,
when the universe of discourse (or domain) consists
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of all integers.

Proof: Let x = 0, which is an integer, therefore is


in the universe of discourse or domain, but P (0) is
the statement 02 > 0, which is False. Thus, we have
proved the universal quantification is False using a
counterexample.

Example: What is the truth value of the universal


quantification ∀x P (x), where P (x) is the statement:
x2 < 10
and the domain consists of the positive integers not
exceeding 4?

The truth value is False because for x = 4


(which is still in the domain), the proposition P (4) :
42 < 10 is False.

Example: Let P (x) denote the statement: “x >


3.” What is the truth value of the quantification of
∃x P (x), where the domain consists of all real num-
bers.

It is true because we can find a value x = 4 to


make the statement P (4) : 4 > 3 true.

Example: Let Q(x) denote the statement “x =


x + 1.” What is the truth value of the quantification
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∃x Q(x), where the domain consists of all real num-


bers?

It is False because we cannot find any value for x in


the domain such that the statement Q(x) : x = x+1
is true.

Example: What is the truth value of ∃x P (x) where


P (x) is the statement “x2 > 10 and the domain con-
sists of the positive integers not exceeding 4?

It is true because we can find a value x = 4 in the


domain such that P (4) : 42 > 10 is true.

3. Precedence of Quantifiers: The quantifiers


∀, ∃ have higher precedence than all logical operators
(¬, ∧, ∨, ⊕, →, ↔).

4. Logical Equivalence with Quantifiers:


Two statements involving predicates and quantifiers
are logically equivalent if and only if they have
the same truth values no matter which predicates
are substituted into these statements and which
domain of discourse is used for the variables in
these propositional functions. We use the notation
S ≡ T to indicate that two statements S, T are log-
ically equivalent.
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Example: Show that the ∀x (P (x) ∧ Q(x)) and


∀x P (x) ∧ ∀x Q(x) are logically equivalent.

Proof: We show that they have the same truth val-


ues. Suppose that ∀x (P (x) ∧ Q(x)) is true, then
the statement (P (x) ∧ Q(x)) is true for all x. Since
P (x) ∧ Q(x) is true only when both P (x) and Q(x)
are true. Thus both P (x) and Q(x) are true for
all x. Therefore, ∀x P (x) ∧ ∀x Q(x) is true for all
x. Suppose that ∀x (P (x) ∧ Q(x)) is false, then
(P (x) ∧ Q(x)) is false for some x. Therefore, ei-
ther P (x) or Q(x) is false for some x. Therefore,
either ∀x P (x) is false or ∀x Q(x) is false. Thus
∀x P (x) ∧ ∀x Q(x) is false.

5. Negating Quantified Expressions: The


negation of the universal quantification ∀x P (x) is
defined to be ∃x¬P (x); and the negation of the
existential quantification ∃x Q(x) is defined to be
∀x ¬Q(x). That is, we have the following:

¬(∀x P (x)) ≡ ∃x ¬P (x), ¬(∃x Q(x)) ≡ ∀x ¬Q(x),

where ∃x¬P (x) means: “There exists an x such that


NOT P (x)”, and ∀x¬Q(x) means: “For every x
NOT Q(x)”.
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Example: What are the negations of the state-


ments “There is an honest politician.” and “All Amer-
icans eat Cheeseburgers.”?

Negations: “Every politician is NOT honest.” and


“There is one American who does not eat Cheese-
burgers.”

Example: What are the negations of the state-


ments ∀x (x2 > x) and ∃x (x2 = 2)?

Negations: ∃x (x2 ≤ x) and ∀x (x2 ̸= 2).

Example: Show that ¬∀x(P (x) → Q(x)) and


∃x(P (x) ∧ ¬Q(x)) are logically equivalent.

Proof: We have the following


¬∀x(P (x) → Q(x)) ≡ ∃x¬(P (x) → Q(x))
≡ ∃x¬(¬P (x) ∨ Q(x))
≡ ∃x(P (x) ∧ ¬Q(x)).

6. Translate English Sentences Using Quan-


tifiers and Predicates: We use quantifiers and
predicates to translate English sentences into logical
expressions.

Example: Express the statement “Every student


in this class has studied Calculus.” using predicates
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and quantifiers.

Let x represent a student, and let P (x), Q(x) be the


statements “x is in this class”, and “x has studied
calculus.”
Then we have the translation: ∀x(P (x) → Q(x)).

Example: Express the statements “Some student


in this class has visited Mexico.” and “Every student
in this class has visited Canada or Mexico.” using
quantifiers and predicates.

Let x represent a student, S(x), C(x) and M (x) be


the statements “x is in this class.”, “x has visited
Canada.” and “x has visited Mexico.”
Then we have the translation of the first statement
as follows:

∃x(S(x) ∧ M (x))

, and translation of the second statement is as follows:

∀x (S(x) → (C(x) ∨ M (x))).

7. Using Quantifiers in System Specifica-


tions: We can use quantifiers to represent system
specifications.
10

Example: Consider these statements, of which the


first three are premises and the fourth is valid con-
clusion.

“All hummingbirds are richly colored.”

“No large birds live on honey.”

“Birds that do not live on honey are dull in color.”

“Hummingbirds are small.”

Let P (x), Q(x), R(x) and S(x) represent the state-


ments “x is a hummingbird.”, “x is large”, “x lives
on honey”, and “x is richly colored.” Express the
statements in the argument using quantifiers and
P (x), Q(x), R(x) and S(x).

Solution: We can express the previoius argument


using quantifiers as follow:

∀x(P (x) → S(x))


¬∃x(Q(x) ∧ R(x))
∀x(¬R(x) → ¬S(x))
∀x(P (x) → ¬Q(x)).

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