SYMBOLIC LOGIC

UNIT 6

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 OUTLINE
• Atomic & Compound Statements
• Symbols for negations, conjunctions,
disjunctions, conditionals, bi-conditionals
• Truth tables
• Well-formed formula, statement variables
• Logically significant categories: tautology,
contradiction, contingency
• Logically significant relationships: equivalence,
contradictoriness, consistency, inconsistency
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 Symbolic Logic:
The Language of Modern Logic
• Technique for analysis of deductive arguments
• English (or any) language: can make any
argument appear vague, ambiguous; especially
with use of things like metaphors, idioms,
emotional appeals, etc.
• Avoid these difficulties when we use symbolic
language as we are able to see the logical
relations more precisely

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Atomic & Compound Statements
• Atomic Statement
– Simple statement that does not contain any other
statement as a component
– E.g. Charlene is neat
• Compound Statements
– does contain another statement as a component
– “Charlene is neat and Charlene is sweet”

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 Logic Connectives
Connective Type of Compound Operator

and conjunction 
or (inclusive) disjunction v

not negation ~

if … then conditional 

if and only if bi-conditional 

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 Conjunction
• some other words & phrases that are equivalent to
“and”are: also, too both in addition (to), plus, including, all,
but, however, as well as, with, along with, together with
• The symbol for conjunction is a dot •
– given any two statements p.q are only two possible truth value
of the conjunction
• Truth value: every statement is either T or F; the truth
value of a true statement is true; the truth value of a false
statement is false
• A conjunct is true if both its conjuncts are true;
otherwise, it is false.
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 Conjunction
• A conjunct is true if both its conjuncts are true;
otherwise, it is false.
• One false conjunct renders an entire conjunction
false.
Example
UWI and UTECH were established in 1948.(TF).
― This statement is false as only UWI was
established on that date.

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 Truth Table of Conjunction •
Given any two statements, p and q

p q p•q
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F F

A conjunction is true if and only if both conjuncts are true

UWI students are conservative and UTECH students are liberal.

(TT). 8
 Negation ~
• Negation: contradictory or denial of a statement
• “not” ~(tilde)
• Example:
If M=“All humans are mortal,” then
• ~M=“It is not the case that all humans are mortal.”
• ~M=“Some humans are not mortal.”
• ~M=“Not all humans are mortal.”
• ~M=“It is false that all humans are mortal.”

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 Truth Table for Negation
p ~p
T F
F T
has the opposite
value of p

To be read as “not p” or “it’s not the case that p”

A negation has opposite truth value of the statement negated.

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 Disjunction “v”
• Disjunction of two statements: “…or…”
• Symbolized by “v”: (either, otherwise, unless, and/or,
alternatively, on the other hand, nevertheless, instead (of) ,
else)
• Weak (inclusive) sense: can be either case, and possibly both
– Ex. “Salad or dessert” (well, you can have both)
– We will treat all disjunctions in this sense (unless a problem explicitly
says otherwise)
• Strong (exclusive) sense: one and only one
– Ex. “A or B” (you can have A or B, at least one but not both)
– The two component statements so combined are called “disjuncts”

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 Disjunction Truth Table
p q pvq
T T T
T F T
F T T
F F F
Always true except when both disjuncts are false
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 Conditionals p  q
• A conditional is of the form “if p then q”
• The representation of “if p then q” is p q.
• A conditional is false if its antecedent is true
and its consequent false; otherwise it is true
Examples
• If UTECH is in Kingston then UTECH is in Jamaica.(TT)
• If UTECH is in Kingston, then UTECH is in France.(TF)
• If UTECH is in Trelawny, then UTECH is in
Kingston(FT).
• If UTECH is in Lucea, then it is in Hanover.(FF).
NB: examples relating to truth table below. 13
 Truth Tables: p  q

P is the antecedent;
q is the consequent
p q p q
T T T
false when p is
T F F
true and q is false
F T T
F F T

Conditional is always false when the antecedent is true and the conclusion false
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 Bi-conditional p  q
• A material biconditional is true when its two
constituent statements have the same truth
value, and it is false if the two statements
differ in truth value.
Examples
1.Class “A” won the match if and only if class
“B” lost the match.
2. There will be thunder if and only if rain is
falling.
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 Truth Tables: p  q

p q pq
T T T true when:
T F F • both p and q are true
F T F • both p and q are false
F F T

Always false except when its two constituent statements have opposite values
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 Symbolizing Sentences
Sentence Representation
Bob likes pizza p
Bob doesn’t like pizza. ~p
Bob likes pizza and jazz. p•j
Bob doesn’t like pizza but likes jazz. ~p • j
Bob likes pizza but not jazz. p • ~j

In the above examples, let p denote “Bob likes pizza”

and let j denote “Bob likes jazz.”

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 Punctuation
• it is important to correctly punctuate logical
parts of an argument
– Ex. (2x3)+6 = 12 whereas 2x(3+6)= 18
– Ex. p • q v r (this is ambiguous)
• To avoid ambiguity and make meaning clear
• Make sure to order sets of parentheses when
necessary:
– Example: { A • [(B v C) • (C v D)] } • ~E
• { [ ( ) ] }

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 Well-Formed Formula
• WFF is a grammatically correct symbolic expression
• A statement variable p and q are statement variables ,
a symbolic expression is WFF under the following
conditions:
– Capital letters (which stands for atomic statements) are
WFF
– If p is a WFFs then so is ~p
– If p and q are WFF then so is (p.q), (pvq), (p q) , and (p
 q)

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 Well-Formed Formula
• A WFF is a grammatically symbolic expression .

Example
• If Lincoln won the election, then Douglas lost the
election; and if Douglas lost the election, then
Lincoln won the election.
• (L: Lincoln won the election; D: Douglas lost the
election).
• (L → D)●(D → L)
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 Symbolizing Compound Sentences
• Translate the sentence to symbolic form.
• If you drink and drive, you are fined or you go
to jail.
– p: You drink.
– q: You drive.
– r: You are fined.
– s: You are jailed.
• Answer: (p . q)  (r v s).

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 Symbolizing Compound Sentences
Translate into symbolic form.
• “No whole number is greater than 3 and less
than 4.”
– p: A whole number.
– q: A number greater than 3.
– r: A number less than 4.
• Answer: ~p  (q . r)

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LOGICALLY SIGNIFICANT
CATEGORIES
and
RELATIONSHIPS

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 LOGICALLY SIGNIFICANT
CATEGORIES
Truth tables can be used to sort statements into
logically significant categories such as:

•Tautologies - A statement is a tautology if and

only if it is true on every assignment of truth
values to its atomic components; therefore in its
truth table, a statement is a tautology if it is true
on every row.

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 TAUTOLOGY
• For example, Either it is raining or it is not raining.
(R means it is raining)
• Symbolic form: R v ~R
• If we construct truth tables for this statement, then
every row under the main logical operator will contain a
T
• Truth Table: R R . ~R

T T

F T

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 CONTRADICTIONS
• A statement is a contradiction if and only if it is false
on every assignment of truth values to its atomic
components. Therefore in its truth table, a statement is
a contradiction if it is false on every row. For example:
Ants exist, and yet they do not exist. (A: Ants exist)
• Symbolic Form: A . ~A
• Truth Table: A A . ~A

T F

F F

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 CONTINGENT STATEMENTS
• A statement is contingent if and only if it is true on some
assignments of truth values to its atomic components and
false on others. In a truth table, a statement is contingent if it is
true on some rows and false on other rows. For example,
consider the statement Platypuses purr, and if platypuses purr,
then they are at rest (P - Platypuses Purr; R - they are at rest)
• Symbolic form: P . (P→R)
• Truth Table:
P R P . (P→R)
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F F

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 LOGICALLY SIGNIFICANT
RELATIONSHIPS
Truth tables can also be used to sort statements
into logically significant relationships such as:
•Equivalence - Two statements are logically
equivalent if and only if they agree in truth value
on every assignment of truth values to their
atomic components. In a truth table, two
statements are logically equivalent if they have
the same truth value on each row.

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 EQUIVALENCE
• For example, “If aardvarks aarkle, then baboons
babooble and Aardvarks don’t aarkle or baboons
babooble”
• where A – aardvarks aarkle, B – Baboons
babooble
• Symbolic Form:A A → B and
B
∼AA ∨
→B
B. ~A v B
• Truth Table: T T T T
T F F F
F T T T
F F T T
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 CONTRADICTORINESS
• Two statements are logically contradictory if and
only if they disagree in truth value on every
assignment of truth values to their atomic
components. In a truth table, two statements are
logically contradictory if they have a different
truth value on every row.
• For example, consider the following symbolic
form:
• ~B→~A and A . ~B
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 CONTRADICTORINESS
A B ~B→ ~A A . ~B

T T T F
T F F T
F T T F
F F T F

Note that the columns under the arrow and the dot are
different, row by row. Thus, ∼B → ∼A and A • ∼B are
logically contradictory.

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 CONSISTENCY
• Two (or more) statements are logically
consistent if and only if they are both (all) true
on some assignment of truth values to their
atomic components.
• In a truth table, two (or more) statements are
logically consistent if they have the same truth
value on at least one row.
• For example, consider A ∨ B and ∼B ∨ A:

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 CONSISTENCY
A B A∨B ∼B ∨ A

T T T T
T F T T
F T T F
F F F T

• Note that the columns under the two vees are the same on rows 1
and 2, even though they are different on rows 3 and 4. Thus, A ∨ B
and ∼B ∨ A are logically consistent.

• Also note that the definition of logical consistency allows for more
than two statements to be logically consistent.

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 INCONSISTENCY
• Two (or more) statements are logically
inconsistent if and only if they are never both (all)
true on any assignment of truth values to their
atomic components.
• In a truth table, two statements are logically
inconsistent if there is no row on which they are
both (all) true.

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 INCONSISTENCY
• For example, consider A ↔ B and ∼(∼A ∨ B):

A B A↔B ∼(∼A ∨ B)
T T T F
T F F T
F T F F
F F T F

• Note that the columns under the double arrow

and the tilde are never both true. Thus, A ↔ B
and ∼(∼A ∨ B) are logically inconsistent.
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