1

Discrete Structures
Discrete Structures
L1

First Semester

College of Science and Computer Engineering

Taibah University
Yanbu
Saudi Arabian .
1440- 1441
 2
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
• Propositional logic is the study of propositions
(true or false statements) and

The ways of combining them (logical operators)

to get new propositions.

It is effectively an algebra of propositions.

 3
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
In this algebra,
❑ the variables stand for unknown propositions
(instead of unknown real numbers) and
❑ the operators are and, or, not, implies, and if
and only if (rather than plus, minus, negative,
times, and divided by).
❑Just as middle/high school students learn the
notation of algebra and how to manipulate it
properly, we want to learn the notation of
propositional logic and how to manipulate it
properly.
 4
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
A proposition is a declarative statement that’s either true
(T) or false (F), but not both
Propositions
▪ Every cow has 4 legs
▪ Riyadh is the capital of Saudi Arabia
▪ 1+1=2
▪ 2+2=3
Not Propositions
▪ What time is it?
▪ X+1=2
▪ Answer this question
 5
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
New propositions, called compound propositions are
formed from existing propositions using logical
Operators
 6
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
negation
Suppose p is a proposition
The negation of p is written as p and
has meaning:
“It is not the case that p.”
The proposition p is read “not P”

Truth table for the negation of p p

proposition p F T
T F
 7
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
negation

“ today is Friday”
“ it is not the case that today is Friday” or
“today is not Friday”
“it is not Friday today”
 8
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
conjunction
Suppose p and q are propositions
The conjunction of p and q is written as pq

The proposition pq is read “p and q”

Truth table for the p q pq

Conjunction of two F F F
propositions
pq F T F
T F F
T T T
 9
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
conjunction
p is the proposition “Today is Friday”
q is the proposition “It is raining today”

The conjunction of p and q is proposition

“ Today is Friday and it is raining today”

This proposition
Is true on rainy Fridays
Is false on any day that is not a Friday
on Fridays when it does not rain
 10
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
disjunction
▪ Inclusive Or
Suppose p and q are propositions
The disjunction of p and q is written as pq

The proposition pq is read “p or q”

p q pq
Truth table for the F F F
Disjunction (Inclusive Or) of two F T T
propositions T F T
pq
T T T
 11
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
disjunction
p is the proposition “Today is Friday”
q is the proposition “It is raining today”

The disjunction of p and q is proposition

“ Today is Friday or it is raining today”

This proposition
Is true on any day that is either a Friday
or a rainy day(including rainy Fridays)
Is false on days that are not Fridays when
it also does not rain
 12
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
disjunction
▪ Exclusive Or
Suppose p and q are propositions
The Exclusive Or of p and q is written as pq

The proposition pq is read “p or q but not both”

p q pq
Truth table for the
Exclusive Or of two propositions F F F
pq F T T
(pq)  (pq) T F T
T T F
 13
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
implication
Suppose p and q are propositions
The conditional statement (implication) p→q
The proposition p→q is read “ if p, then q”
P hypothesis – antecedent – premise
q conclusion -consequence
p q p→q
Truth table for the F F T
Implication F T T
p→q T F F
T T T
 14
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
implication
Terminology used to express p→q
“if p, then q”
“p is sufficient for q”
“q if p” “q when p”
“a necessary condition for p is q”
“q unless p“
“p implies q”
“p only if q”
“a sufficient condition for q is p”
“q whenever p”
“q is necessary for p”
“q follows from p”
“if p, q”
 15
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
implication
p is the proposition “Ahmed learns discrete structures”
q is the proposition “Ahmed will find a good job”
The p→q is proposition
“ if Ahmed learns discrete mathematics, then he will find a
good job”

This proposition
Is false when p is true and q is false
Otherwise it is true
 16
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
implication
p is the proposition “today is Friday”
q is the proposition “2+3=5”
The p→q is proposition
“ if today is Friday, then 2+3=5”

This proposition p q p→q

Is true because its F F T
Conclusion (q) is true “ F T T
T F F
T T T
 17
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
implication
The conditional statement (implication) p→q
“if it is raining, then the home team wins”

q→ p is called contrapositive of p→q

“if the home team does not win, then it is not raining”

The proposition q→p is called converse of p→q

“if the home team wins, then it is raining”

p→ q is called inverse of p→q

“if it is not raining, then the home team does not win”
 18
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
bi-implication
Suppose p and q are propositions
The biconditional statement (bi-implication) pq
The proposition p  q is read “ p if and only if q”
p  q is true if both p→q  q→p are true
p→q  pq -------→ pq
p q pq
Truth table for the F F T
bi-implication F T F
pq T F F
(p  q )  ( p   q ) T T T
 19
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
bi-implication
The proposition p  q has the same truth value as p→q 
q→p

p q p→q q→p p→q  q→p pq

F F T T T T
F T T F F F
T F F T F F
T T T T T T
 20
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
bi-implication

p is the proposition “You can take the flight”

q is the proposition “You buy a ticket”

The p  q is proposition
“You can take the flight if and only if You buy a ticket”

This proposition
Is true if p and q are either both true or both false”
 21
Discrete Structures

Exercise
1- Find the negation of the proposition
“Michael’s PC runs Linux”
and express this in simple English.

2- Write truth table for the Conjunction of two propositions pq

3- Write truth table for the Implication of two propositions p→q

4- Prove that the proposition p  q has the same truth value as p→q  q→p
 22
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
Truth table of compound propositions
▪ Precedence of logical operators
→
Construct the Truth table of compound propositions

(p   q) → (p  q)
 23
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic
▪ Translating English sentence into a logical
expression
“You can access the internet from campus only if
you are a computer science major or you are not a
freshman”
a: “You can access the internet from campus”
b: “you are a computer science major”
c: “you are a freshman”
Where a,b,c are propositional variables
a → (b  c)
 24
Discrete Structures
Propositional Equivalences

Logical equivalences
compound propositions that have the same
truth values in all possible cases are called
Logically equivalent
Compound propositions p and q are Logically
equivalent if pq is a tautology.

logical equivalence  
Note  and  are not logical
operators(connectives). Rather they indicate
a kind of logical equality.
 25
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic - 2 more defn…

A tautology is a proposition that’s always TRUE.

A contradiction is a proposition that’s always FALSE.

p p p  p p  p
T F T F
F T T F

9/29/2021
 26
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic - logical equivalence

Challenge: Try to find a proposition that is equivalent

to p → q, but that uses only the connectives , ,
and .

p q p→q p q p q  p

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

9/29/2021
 27
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic - proof of 1 famous 

I could say “prove
a law of
Distributivity: p  (q  r)  (p  q)  (p  r) distributivity.”

p q r qr p  (q  r) pq pr (p  q)  (p  r)

T T T T T T T T
T T F F T T T T
T F T F T T T T
T F F F T T T T
F T T T T T T T
F T F F F T F F
All truth
F F T
assignments F F F T F
for p,Fq, and
F F F F F F F
r.
9/29/2021
 28
Discrete Structures
Propositional Equivalences
Identity laws pTp pFp
Domination laws pFF pTT
Idempotent laws ppp ppp
Double negation law (p)  p
Negation laws p p  T p  p  F
Absorption laws p(pq)  p p(p  q)  p
Commutative laws p  q  q  p pqqp
Associative laws (pq)r  p(qr) (pq)r  p(qr)
De Morgan’s laws (pq)  pq (pq)  pq
Distributive laws p(qr)  (pq)(pr)
p(qr)  (pq)(pr)
T denotes the compound proposition that is always true
F denotes the compound proposition that is always false
 29
Discrete Structures
Propositional Equivalences
Use De Morgan’s law to express the negation of
“Ahmed has a mobile and he has a laptop”
p: “Ahmed has a mobile”
q: “Ahmed has a laptop”

pq
(pq)  p q
 p: “Ahmed has not a mobile”
 q: “Ahmed has not a laptop”
“Ahmed has not a mobile or he has not a laptop”
 30
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic - an unfamous 

if NOT (blue AND NOT red) OR red then…

(p  q)  q  p  q

(p  q)  q  (p  q)  q DeMorgan’s

 (p  q)  q Double negation

 p  (q  q) Associativity

 p  q Idempotent

9/29/2021
 31
Discrete Structures

Propositional Logic - one last proof

⚫ Show that [p  (p → q)] → q is a tautology.
⚫ We use  to show that [p  (p → q)] → q  T.

[p  (p → q)] → q
 [p  (p  q)] → q substitution for →
 [(p  p)  (p  q)] → q distributive
 [ F  (p  q)] → q uniqueness
 (p  q ) → q identity
 (p  q)  q substitution for →
 (p  q)  q DeMorgan’s
 p  (q  q ) associative
 p  T excluded middle
T domination
9/29/2021
 32
Discrete Structures

Exercise

Show that (p → q)  p  q

Show that (p  ( p  q))   p  q

Show that (p  q) → (p  q) is a tautology