DISCRETE

MATHEMATICS
For 2025 II [Link] – First Semester
Unit-1

Propositional Logic:
Statement and Notations, Connectives, Well –formed Formulas, Truth
Tables, Tautology, and Equivalence, Implication, Rules of Inference,
Arguments, Proof by Contradiction, Conditional proof Normal forms
and Automatic Theorem Proving
 Statement and Notations
Propositional Logic
It is concerned with statements to which the truth-values, true and false,
can be assigned. (The truth or falsehood of a proposition is called its truth-
value.)
The purpose is to analyze these statements either individually or in a
composite manner.

Definition: A proposition or statement is a declarative sentence that is

either true or false (but not both)
• A propositional consists of propositional variables and connectives.
• We denote the propositional variables by capital letters (A, B, etc).
• The connectives connect the propositional variables
Some examples of Propositions are given below –

• "Man is Mortal" :it returns truth-value TRUE

• "12 + 9 = 32" : it returns truth value FALSE
• John Major is Prime Minister. : It returns truth-value TRUE
• Paris is in France :it returns truth-value TRUE
• London is in Denmark : it returns truth-value FALSE
• 4=7 : it returns truth value FALSE
The following are not Propositions –

• "A < 2" : because unless we give a specific value of A, we cannot say
whether the statement is true or false.
• Are you going out somewhere? : This is a question
• 2+3 : Total not mentioned
• Do your homework : This is a command
• This sentence is false : neither true nor false
• x is an even number It depends on what x represents
• Socrates< it is not even a sentence
Connectives:
In propositional logic generally we use five connectives –

• Disjunction: (A ∨ B) (A or B)
• Conjunction: (A ∧ B) (A and B)
• Negation: ¬A (the negation of A)
• Implication: (A → B) (If A, then B)
• Biconditional: (A ↔ B) (A if and only if B)
• Universal Quantification: ∀xA (For all x, A)
• Existential Quantification: ∃xA (There exists an x such that A)
 Disjunction: OR (∨) : −
The OR operation of two propositions A and B (written as A∨B ) is true
if at least any of the propositional variable A or B is true.

The truth table is as follows −

 Conjunction : AND (∧)
The AND operation of two propositions A and B (written as A∧B)
is true if both the propositional variable A and B is true.
The truth table is as follows −
Negation ( ¬ ):-
The negation of a proposition A (written as ¬A) is
false when A is true and is true when A is false
• The truth table is as follows −
 Implication / if-then (→) −
An implication A→B is the proposition if A, then B.
It is false if A is true and B is false. The rest cases are true.

The truth table is as follows −

Bi-Conditional: If and only if (⇔) −
A⇔B is bi-conditional logical connective which is true when p and q are
same, i.e. both are false or both are true.

The truth table is as follows −

 Well-formed formulas (Wff)
The strings that produce a proposition when their symbols are interpreted must
follow the rules given below, then they are called well-formed formulas (wffs) of the
first order predicate logic.
• A predicate name followed by a list of variables such as P(x, y), where P is predicate
name,and x and y are variables, is called a.n atomic formula

Wffs are constructed using the following rules:

• True and False are wffs.
• Each propositional constant (i.e. Specific proposition), and each propositional
variable (i.e. a variable representing propositions) are wffs.
• Each atomic formula (i.e. a specific predicate with variables) is a wff.
• If A, B, and C are well-formed formulas (wffs), then the following are also wffs: ¬A, (A
∧ B), (A ∨ B), (A → B), and (A ↔ B).
• Additionally, if 'x' is a variable and A is a wff, then ∀xA and ∃xA are also wffs.
Examples:
1. "The capital of Virginia is Richmond." is a specific proposition.
--Hence, it is a wff by Rule 2.
2. Let B be a predicate name representing "being blue" and let x be a
variable.
Then B(x) is an atomic formula meaning, "x is blue".
--Thus it is a wff by Rule 3.
3. B(x), ∀x B(x) is a wff and so is ∃x B(x). ---By applying Rule 5.
4. ∀x B(x) ∧ ∃x B(x) is also Wff.
To express the fact that Tom is taller than John

Atomic formula taller(Tom, John), which is a wff.

Also part of some compound statement such as
taller(Tom, John) ∧ taller(John, Tom), which is also a wff.
If x is a variable representing people in the world, then
taller(x,Tom), ∀ x taller(x,Tom), ∃ x taller(x,Tom),
∃ x ∀ y taller(x,y) --- are all wffs among others.

How ever
taller(∃x, John) and taller(Tom ∧ Mary, Jim), are NOT wffs.
 Truth Tables
Logical identity : Logical identity is an operation on one logical value, typically the
value of a proposition (p) that produces a value of true if its operand is true and a
value of false if its operand is false.

• Mathematicians normally use a two-valued logic: Every statement is

either True or False. This is called the Law of the Excluded Middle.
• A statement in sentential logic is built from simple statements using the logical
connectives ¬, ∧ , ∨ ,→ and ↔. The truth or falsity of a statement built with
these connective depends on the truth or falsity of its components.
• For example, the compound statement P → (Q ∨ ¬R) is built using logical
connectivity's ¬, ∨ and → . The truth or falsity of P → (Q ∨ ¬R) depends on the
truth or falsity of P, Q, and R.
• A truth table shows how the truth or falsity of a compound statement
depends on the truth or falsity of the simple statements from which
it's constructed.
Logical Negation
The truth table for NOT p (also written as ¬p or ~p) is as follows:
• If p is true, its negation ¬p is false
• If p is false, its negation ¬p is True
• P ∧ Q should be true when both P and Q are true, and false otherwise

• P ∨ Q should be true either P is true or Q is true or both are true and

false if both are false
Logical implication & bi-
conditional (double) implication

You should remember --- or be able to construct --- the truth tables for the logical
connectives. You'll use these tables to construct tables for more complicated
sentences.
 Exclusive disjunction: p XOR q
Exclusive disjunction is an operation on two logical values, typically the values of
two propositions, that produces a value of true if one but not both of its operands
is true.
The truth table for p XOR q (also written as p Ⓒq, or p ≠ q) is as follows:
 Logical NAND : p ↑ q or p | q)
The logical NAND is an operation on two logical values, typically the values of two
propositions, that produces a value of false if both of its operands are true. In other
words, it produces a value of true if at least one of its operands is false. The truth table for
p NAND q (also written as p ↑ q or p | q) is as follows:

In the case of logical NAND, it is clearly expressible as

a compound of NOT and AND. The negation of a
conjunction: ¬(p ∧ q), and the disjunction of
negations: (¬p) V (¬q) is same.

¬(p ∧ q)= (¬p) V (¬q)

 Logical NOR : p ↓ q or p T q
The logical NOR is an operation on two logical values, typically the values of two propositions, that produces
a value of true if both of its operands are false.
In other words, it produces a value of false if at least one of its operands is true.
The truth table for p NOR q (also written as p ↓ q or p T q) is as follows:
Possibilities for three propositions
P,Q and R.

There are different ways

of setting up truth tables.
Construct Truth Table for ¬ P ∧(P →
Q)
Construct Truth Table for (P → Q) ∧
(Q → R)
 Tautology , Contradiction and
Contingency
A proposition is said to be a tautology if its truth value is T for any assignment of
truth values to its components. A tautology is a formula which is "always true“.

The opposite of a tautology is a contradiction, A proposition is said to be a

contradiction if its truth value is F for any assignment of truth values to its
components.
A contradiction is a formula which is "always false“

• A proposition that is neither a tautology nor a contradiction is called a

contingency:
Definition: A compound statement is a contingent if it is true on some assignments
of truth values to its component atomic statements, and false on others.
Construct Truth Table for (P → Q) ∨
(Q → P) and show that it is a
tautology
Show that the given statement
p ∧ (q → r) → p
is tautology .

Practice :

Is the given compound statement

¬x ∧ (¬y ∨ ¬z) ↔ x → (y ∧ z)
is tautology or not

Practice :

Is the given statement

¬(P ∧ Q) ↔ ¬P V ¬Q is tautology or
not
Example for Contradiction (p ∨ q) ∧ [~(p)∧~(q) ]
Substitution Instance
Equivalence of Formulas
Equivalence of Formulas
Example: Prove that P → (Q → R) ⇔ P → (¬Q ∨ R) ⇔ (P ∧ Q) → R
Solution: P → (Q → R) ⇔ P → (¬Q ∨ R) [∵ Q → R ⇔ ¬Q ∨ R]
⇔ ¬P ∨ (¬Q ∨ R) [∵ P → Q ⇔ ¬P ∨ Q]
⇔ (¬P ∨ ¬Q) ∨ R [by Associative laws]
⇔ ¬(P ∧ Q) ∨ R [by De Morgan‘s laws]
⇔ (P ∧ Q) → R [∵ P → Q ⇔ ¬P ∨ Q].

Example: Prove that P → (Q → P ) ⇔ ¬P → (P →Q)

LHS= P→ (Q → P ) ⇔ ¬P ∨ (Q → P )
⇔ ¬P ∨ (¬Q ∨ P )
⇔ (¬P ∨ P ) ∨ ¬Q
⇔ T ∨ ¬Q ⇔ T

RHS= ¬P → (P → Q) ⇔ ¬(¬P ) ∨ (P → Q)
⇔ P ∨ (¬P ∨ Q)
⇔ (P ∨ ¬P ) ∨ Q
⇔T∨Q⇔T

So, P → (Q → P ) ⇔ ¬P → (P → Q).