MA2509 Tutorial (Week 1)

Propositional Logic

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Semester A 2023/24

Contents
A Propositional Form 1
A.1 Proposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
A.2 Truth Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
A.3 Algebra of Propositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

B Conditional Statements 4

C Summary 7

Tutorial Information
• NOT COMPULSORY

• MA2185-TA2: 3 pm, Tuesday, Y-P4703

• MA2185-TB2: 3 pm, Friday, Y-B4702

A Propositional Form
A.1 Proposition

Definition 1. A proposition (or statement) is a declarative sentence that is true or false but not both.

By introducing several basic symbols called connectives, we can build more complicated expressions.
Such expressions are called proposition forms (or statement forms).

Symbol Logic Name Example Read as

≥, ¬, ! negation ≥p not p
·, & conjunction p·q p and q
‚, Î disjunction p‚q p or q

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Example 1 (Translation from English). Express the sentences (a)-(e) in symbolic notation by the indi-
cated letter and symbols ≥, ·, and ‚.
p = “DATAENDFLAG is off.”
q = “ERROR equals 0.”
r = “SUM is less than 1,000."

1. DATAENDFLAG is off, ERROR equals 0, and SUM is less than 1,000.

2. DATAENDFLAG is off but ERROR is not equal to 0.

3. DATAENDFLAG is off; however ERROR is not 0 or SUM is greater than or equal to 1,000.

4. DATAENDFLAG is on and ERROR equals 0 but SUM is greater than or equal to 1,000.

5. Either DATAENDFLAG is on or it is the case that both ERROR equals 0 and SUM is less than
1,000.

A.2 Truth Table

The truth table shows the output of a given proposition form for all legal input. A tautology is a
proposition form that is always true regardless of input. A contradiction is a proposition form that is
always false regardless of input.

Example 2. Use truth tables to verify:

(a) Contradiction: (p· ≥ q) · (≥ p ‚ q)

(b) Tautology: (p · q) ‚ (≥ p ‚ (p · ≥ q))

p q ≥p ≥q p· ≥ q ≥p·q (p· ≥ q) · (≥ p ‚ q)
T F
T T
F T
F F

p q ≥p ≥q p·q p·≥q ≥ p · (p · ≥ q) (p · q) ‚ (≥ p ‚ (p · ≥ q))

T F
T T
F T
F F

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We can also construct a proposition from its truth table.

*Background: When designing digital logic circuits, engineers usually use 1 and 0 to denote
true (on) and false (off). Here the symbols 1 and 0 are called bits (binary digits). The variable,
that take one of two values, is called a Boolean variable, to honor the mathematician George
Boole. An expression made of Boolean variable and connectives (·, ‚, ≥) is called a Boolean
expression.

Example 3. Consider a black box with input signals p, q, r and output signal s. Give its Boolean
expression by the following truth table.

p q r s
1 1 1 1
1 1 0 0
1 0 1 1
1 0 0 0
0 1 1 0
0 1 0 0
0 0 1 1
0 0 0 0

Definition 2. Two proposition forms are called logically equivalent if and only if they have the same
truth table. We denote the logical equivalence of proposition forms p and q as p © q.

Tips: To test the equivalence of p and q, we can check if their truth tables are the same.

• If all input yields the exactly same output, then p and q are logically equivalent.

• If they have different output for some input, then p and q are not logically equivalent.

A.3 Algebra of Propositions

Another method to verify the logical equivalence is to adopt the algebra of propositions (such as distri-
bution laws and De Morgan’s laws).

Example 4. Show that the implication

(p æ q) · (q æ r) æ (p æ r)

is a tautology without using truth tables.

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Example 5. Here we define a new operation called exclusive or, denoted as p ü q (read as p XOR
q), which can be considered true when exactly one of p and q is true. we let ü be the logical operator
exclusive or defined by (p ‚ q)· ≥ (p · q).

(1) Write the truth table for (p ‚ q)· ≥ (p · q).

p q p‚q p·q ≥ (p · q) (p ‚ q)· ≥ (p · q)

T F
T T
F T
F F

(2) Find simpler statement forms that are logically equivalent to p ü p and (p ü p) ü p.

(3) Is (p ü q) ü r © p ü (q ü r)? Justify your answer.

(4) Is (p ü q) · r © (p · r) ü (q · r)? Justify your answer.

B Conditional Statements
Definition 3. Denote p and q as propositional variables. p æ q is called a conditional statement or
an implication, in which p is the hypothesis or the antecedent, while q is the conclusion or the
consequent. It is true unless p is true and q is false.

Note that p æ q is true in three of the four possible cases. In particular, it is automatically true if p
is false. And the situation is often called vacuously true or true by default.

p q pæq
T T T
F T T
F F T
T F F

Let’s consider a weird example: “For any real number x, if we let x > 1, then x > ≠1". What will
happen if x = 2, x = 0, x = ≠10?

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 In Oxford English dictionary, sufficient means enough for a particular purpose, while necessary refers
as something that must exist or happen and cannot be avoided.
For p æ q, p is a sufficient condition for q, while q is a necessary condition for p.

Example 6. Rewrite the following sentences by if-then form.

(a) A number can be divisible by 3 is a necessary condition for it to be divisible by 9.

(b) Being divisible by 4 is a sufficient condition for being an even number.

By the logical equivalences

p æ q © ≥ p ‚ q,
p ¡ q © (≥ p ‚ q) · (≥ q ‚ p),
we can rewrite the conditional operation as an expression without æ or ¡. (You can prove it by writing
its truth table.) Sometimes, these identities help us simplify a proposition.

Example 7. Express the following forms without the symbol æ or ¡.

1. p æ (q æ p)

2. (q ‚ r) æ (≥ r æ q)

3. (p æ (q æ r)) æ ((p· ≥ q) ‚ r)

4. (p ‚ ≥ q) ‚ (q · ≥ r) ‚ (r · ≥ p)

5. (p æ r) ¡ (q æ r)