Discrete mathematics for CS

Lecture 4

Predicate logic

[Link] Rahmani
cenghabib@[Link]
Kandahar University

[Link]

Discrete mathematics for CS

Announcements

• Homework assignment 1 due today

• Homework assignment 2:
– posted on the course web page
– Due on Thursday January 23, 2013
• Recitations today and tomorrow:
– Practice problems related to assignment 2

Discrete mathematics for CS [Link]

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 Propositional logic: limitations
Propositional logic: the world is described in terms of
elementary propositions and their logical combinations
Elementary statements/propositions:
• Typically refer to objects, their properties and relations.
But these are not explicitly represented in the propositional
logic
– Example:
• “John is a UPitt student.”

John a Upitt student

object a property
• Objects and properties are hidden in the statement, it is
not possible to reason about them

Discrete mathematics for CS [Link]

Propositional logic: limitations

(1) Statements that hold for many objects must be enumerated

• Example:
– John is a CS UPitt graduate  John has passed cs441
– Ann is a CS Upitt graduate  Ann has passed cs441
– Ken is a CS Upitt graduate  Ken has passed cs441
– …
• Solution: make statements with variables
– x is a CS UPitt graduate  x has passed cs441

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 Propositional logic: limitations
(2) Statements that define the property of the group of objects

• Example:
– All new cars must be registered.
– Some of the CS graduates graduate with honor.

• Solution: make statements with quantifiers

– Universal quantifier –the property is satisfied by all
members of the group
– Existential quantifier – at least one member of the group
satisfy the property

Discrete mathematics for CS [Link]

Predicate logic
Remedies the limitations of the propositional logic
• Explicitly models objects and their properties
• Allows to make statements with variables and quantify them
Predicate logic:
• Constant –models a specific object
Examples: “John”, “France”, “7”
• Variable – represents object of specific type (defined by the
universe of discourse)
Examples: x, y
(universe of discourse can be people, students, numbers)
• Predicate - over one, two or many variables or constants.
– Represents properties or relations among objects
Examples: Red(car23), student(x), married(John,Ann)

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 Predicates
Predicates represent properties or relations among objects
• A predicate P(x) assigns a value true or false to each x
depending on whether the property holds or not for x.
• The assignment is best viewed as a big table with the variable x
substituted for objects from the universe of discourse

Example:
• Assume Student(x) where the universe of discourse are people
• Student(John) …. T (if John is a student)
• Student(Ann) …. T (if Ann is a student)
• Student(Jane) ….. F (if Jane is not a student)
• …

Discrete mathematics for CS [Link]

Predicates
Assume a predicate P(x) that represents the statement:
• x is a prime number

Truth values for different x:

• P(2) T
• P(3) T
• P(4) F
• P(5) T
• P(6) F
All statements P(2), P(3), P(4), P(5), P(6) are propositions
…
But P(x) with variable x is not a proposition
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 Quantified statements
Predicate logic lets us to make statements about groups of
objects
• To do this we use special quantified expressions

Two types of quantified statements:

• universal
Example: ‘ all CS Upitt graduates have to pass cs441”
– the statement is true for all graduates
• existential
Example: ‘Some CS Upitt students graduate with honor.’
– the statement is true for some people

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Universal quantifier
Quantification converts a propositional function into a
proposition by binding a variable to a set of values from the
universe of discourse.

Example:
• Let P(x) denote x > x - 1. Assume x are real numbers.
• Is P(x) a proposition? No. Many possible substitutions.
• Is x P(x) a proposition? Yes.
• What is the truth value for x P(x) ?
– True, since P(x) holds for all x.

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 Existential quantifier
Quantification converts a propositional function into a
proposition by binding a variable to a set of values from the
universe of discourse.

Example:
• Let T(x) denote x > 5 and x is from Real numbers.
• Is T(x) a proposition? No.
• Is x T(x) a proposition? Yes.
• What is the truth value for x T(x) ?
– Since 10 > 5 is true. Therefore, x T(x) is true.

Discrete mathematics for CS [Link]

Summary of quantified statements

• When x P(x) and x P(x) are true and false?

Statement Whentrue? Whenfalse?

xP(x) P(x)trueforallx Thereisanx

whereP(x)isfalse.
xP(x) Thereissomexfor P(x)isfalseforall
whichP(x)istrue. x.

Suppose the elements in the universe of discourse can be

enumerated as x1, x2, ..., xN then:
• x P(x) is true whenever P(x1)  P(x2)  ...  P(xN) is true
• x P(x) is true whenever P(x1)  P(x2)  ...  P(xN) is true.

Discrete mathematics for CS [Link]

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 Translation with quantifiers
Sentence:
• All Upitt students are smart.

• Assume: the domain of discourse of x are Upitt students

• Translation:
• x Smart(x)

• Assume: the universe of discourse are students (all students):

• x at(x,Upitt)  Smart(x)

• Assume: the universe of discourse are people:

• x student(x)  at(x,Upitt)  Smart(x)
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Translation with quantifiers

Sentence:
• Someone at CMU is smart.

• Assume: the domain of discourse are all CMU affiliates

• Translation:
•  x Smart(x)

• Assume: the universe of discourse are people:

•  x at(x,CMU)  Smart(x)

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 Translation with quantifiers
• Assume two predicates S(x) and P(x)

Universal statements typically tie with implications

• All S(x) is P(x)
– x ( S(x)  P(x) )
• No S(x) is P(x)
– x( S(x)  ¬P(x) )

Existential statements typically tie with conjunctions

• Some S(x) is P(x)
– x (S(x)  P(x) )
• Some S(x) is not P(x)
– x (S(x)  ¬P(x) )
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Nested quantifiers
• More than one quantifier may be necessary to capture the
meaning of a statement in the predicate logic.

Example:
• Every real number has its corresponding negative.
• Translation:
– Assume:
• a real number is denoted as x and its negative as y
• A predicate P(x,y) denotes: “x + y =0”
• Then we can write:
x  y P(x,y)

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 Nested quantifiers
• More than one quantifier may be necessary to capture the
meaning of a statement in the predicate logic.

Example:
• There is a person who loves everybody.
• Translation:
– Assume:
• Variables x and y denote people
• A predicate L(x,y) denotes: “x loves y”
• Then we can write in the predicate logic:
 x y L(x,y)

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Order of quantifiers
The order of nested quantifiers matters if quantifiers are of
different type
• xy L(x,y) is not the same as yx L(x,y)

Example:
• Assume L(x,y) denotes “x loves y”

• Then: xy L(x,y)

• Translates to: Everybody loves somebody.
• And: y x L(x,y)
• Translates to: There is someone who is loved by everyone.

The meaning of the two is different.

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 Order of quantifiers
The order of nested quantifiers does not matter if quantifiers
are of the same type

Example:
• For all x and y, if x is a parent of y then y is a child of x
• Assume:
– Parent(x,y) denotes “x is a parent of y”
– Child(x,y) denotes “x is a child of y”

• Two equivalent ways to represent the statement:

– x y Parent(x,y)  Child(y,x)
– y x Parent(x,y)  Child(y,x)

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Translation exercise
Suppose:
– Variables x,y denote people
– L(x,y) denotes “x loves y”.
Translate:
• Everybody loves Raymond. x L(x,Raymond)
• Everybody loves somebody. xy L(x,y)
• There is somebody whom everybody loves. yx L(x,y)
• There is somebody who Raymond doesn't love.
y¬L(Raymond,y)
• There is somebody whom no one loves.
y x ¬L(x,y)

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