The Foundations:

LOGICS AND PROOFS

Terminologies
• Proposition - is a declarative sentence (that is, a sentence that
declares a fact) that is either true or false, but not both.
• Propositional variables (or statement variables) - variables that
represent propositions, just as letters are used to denote numerical
variables
• The truth value of a proposition is true, denoted by T, if it is a true
proposition, and the truth value of a proposition is false, denoted by F,
if it is a false proposition
Terminologies
• Logic- is the basis of all mathematical reasoning, and of all automated
reasoning.
• Proof- helps us understand what makes up a correct mathematical
argument
• Theorem – a statement which has been proved true by a special kind
of logical argument called a rigorous proof
Examples
1. Washington, D.C., is the capital of the United States of America.
2. Toronto is the capital of Canada.
3. 1 + 1 = 2.
4. 2 + 2 = 3.
5. What time is it?
6. Read this carefully.
7. x + 1 = 2.
8. x + y = z.
Propositional Logic
Definition 1: NEGATION

Example. Find the negation of the proposition

1. “Today is Monday.”
2. “Nico’s smartphone has at least 32GB of memory.”
Propositional Logic
Definition 2: CONJUNCTION

Example. Find the conjunction of the proposition

p: “Rebecca’s PC has more than 16 GB free hard disk space”
q: “The processor in Rebecca’s PC runs faster than 1 GHz.”
Propositional Logic
Definition 3: DISJUNCTION

Example. Find the disjunction of the proposition

p: “Rebecca’s PC has more than 16 GB free hard disk space”
q: “The processor in Rebecca’s PC runs faster than 1 GHz.”
Propositional Logic
Definition 4: EXCLUSIVE OR

Example. “Students who have taken calculus or computer science, but

not both, can enroll in this class.”
Propositional Logic
Definition 5: CONDITIONAL STATEMENT

Example. Find the conditional statement of the propositions

p: “Maria learns discrete mathematics.”
q: “Maria will find a good job.”
Propositional Logic
Definition 6: CONVERSE, CONTRAPOSITIVE & INVERSE
• The converse of p → q is the proposition q → p.

• The contrapositive of p → q is the proposition ￢q →￢p.

• The inverse of p → q is the proposition ￢p →￢q.

Example. Give the contrapositive, the converse, and the inverse of the
conditional statement
“The home team wins whenever it is raining”.
Propositional Logic
Definition 7: BICONDITIONAL

Example. Determine the biconditional statement.

p: “You can take the flight,”
q: “You buy a ticket.”
Examples:
1. Let p and q be the propositions p : It is below freezing. q : It is snowing.
Write these propositions using p and q and logical connectives (including
negations).
a) It is below freezing and snowing.
b) It is below freezing but not snowing.
c) It is not below freezing and it is not snowing.
d) It is either snowing or below freezing (or both).
e) If it is below freezing, it is also snowing.
f ) Either it is below freezing or it is snowing, but it is not snowing if it is
below freezing.
g) That it is below freezing is necessary and sufficient for it to be snowing.
Precedence of Logical Operators
TRUTH TABLES OF COMPOUND PROPOSITIONS
Construct the truth table of the compound propositions:
a. (p V ¬ q) → (p ∧ q)
b. ¬(p ∧ q) V (q → r)
APPLICATIONS OF PROPOSITIONAL LOGIC
Logic is used to:
-design computer circuits
-construct computer programs
-verify the correctness of program
-build expert systems
Logic Circuit

Basic Logic Gates

Sample Combinatorial Logic Circuit

Logic Circuit
Example: Construct a combinatorial circuit and truth table from the
given function.
F = ((A + B)’ (A’B)) + B’