Predicate

•A predicate is a meaningful statement containing variables that becomes true or

false when appropriate values are substituted for the variables.

•When the variables in a propositional function are assigned values, the resulting
statement becomes a proposition with a certain truth value.

•The area of logic that deals with predicates and quantifiers is called the
predicate calculus or predicate logic.

•The statement “x is greater than 3” has two parts.

•The first part, the variable x, is the subject of the statement.
•The second part—the predicate, “is greater than 3”—refers to a property that the
subject of the statement can have.
•We can denote the statement “x is greater than 3” by P(x), where P denotes the
predicate “is greater than 3” and x is the variable.

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 Predicate
•The statement P(x) is also said to be the value of the propositional function P at
x.
•Once a value has been assigned to the variable x, the statement P(x) becomes a
proposition and has a truth value.
Example:
• Let P(x) denote the statement “x > 3.” What are the truth values of P(4) and
P(2)?
Solution:
• We obtain the statement P(4) by setting x = 4 in the statement “x > 3.” Hence,
P(4), which is the statement “4 > 3,” is true. However, P(2), which is the
statement “2 > 3,” is false

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 Domain of discourse (or the universe of discourse) or simply domain:

• The universe of discourse of a predicate variable is the set of all possible

values that may be substituted in place of variables. For example, P(x): x is
student, can be taken as the set of all human names.
• The universal quantification of P(x) for a particular domain is the proposition
that asserts that P(x) is true for all values of x in this domain.
• The domain specifies the possible values of the variable x. The meaning of
the universal quantification of P(x) changes when we change the domain
Quantifier:
• If the variables in a propositional function are assigned values, the resulting
statement becomes a proposition with a certain truth value.

• Quantifiers are the words that refer to quantities such as all, some, many, none,
and few and indicate how frequently a certain statement is true.

• Quantification is the way of creating propositional form from the propositional

function.

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 The universal quantifier( ∀):

• Two types of quantification here: universal quantification, which tells us that

a predicate is true for every element under consideration,
• and existential quantification, which tells us that there is one or more
element under consideration for which the predicate is true.
The universal quantifier( ∀):
• The universal quantification of P(x) is the statement “P(x) for all values of x in the
domain.”
• The notation ∀xP(x) denotes the universal quantification of P(x). Here ∀ is called the
universal quantifier.
• We read ∀xP(x) as “for all xP(x)” or “for every xP(x).”
• An element for which P(x) is false is called a counterexample of ∀xP(x).
• Besides “for all” and “for every,” universal quantification can be expressed in many
other ways, including “all of,” “for each,” “given any,” “for arbitrary,” “for each,” and
“for any.”

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 Domain of discourse (or the universe of discourse) or simply domain:

Example:
• Let P(x) be the statement “x + 1 > x.” What is the truth value of the
quantification ∀xP(x), where the domain consists of all real numbers?
Solution: Because P(x) is true for all real numbers x, the quantification
∀xP(x) is true.
Example:
• Let Q(x) be the statement “x < 2.” What is the truth value of the quantification
∀xQ(x), where the domain consists of all real numbers?
Solution:
• Q(x) is not true for every real number x, because, for instance, Q(3) is false.
That is, x = 3 is a counterexample for the statement ∀xQ(x). Thus ∀xQ(x)is
false.
• When all the elements in the domain can be listed—say, x1, x2, . . ., xn—it
follows that the universal quantification ∀xP(x) is the same as the conjunction
• P(x1) ∧ P(x2) ∧ · · · ∧ P(xn),
• because this conjunction is true if and only if P(x1), P(x2), . . . , P (xn) are all
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true.
 The Existential quantifier:

Example:
What is the truth value of ∀xP(x), where P(x) is the statement “x2 < 10” and the
domain consists of the positive integers not exceeding 4?
Solution: The statement ∀xP(x) is the same as the conjunction
• P(1) ∧ P(2) ∧ P(3) ∧ P(4),
• because the domain consists of the integers 1, 2, 3, and 4. Because P(4),
which is the statement “42 < 10,” is false, it follows that ∀xP(x) is false.
The Existential quantifier:
• We form a proposition that is true if and only if P(x) is true for at least one
value of x in the domain.
• The existential quantification of P(x) is the proposition “There exists an
element x in the domain such that P(x).”
• We use the notation ∃xP(x) for the existential quantification of P(x). Here ∃ is
called the existential quantifier. We can also express existential quantification
in many other ways, such as by using the words “for some,” “for at least one,”
or “there is.” The existential quantification ∃xP(x) is read as
• “There is an x such that P(x),” “There is at least one x such that P(x),” 6
 The Existential quantifier:

Example:
• Let P(x) denote the statement “x > 3.” What is the truth value of the quantification
∃xP(x), where the domain consists of all real numbers?
• Solution:
• Because “x > 3” is sometimes true—for instance, when x = 4—the existential
quantification of P(x), which is ∃xP(x), is true.
• Here we, Observe that the statement ∃xP(x) is false if and only if there is no element x
in the domain for which P(x) is true. That is, ∃xP(x) is false if and only if P(x) is false
for every element of the domain.
• Example:
• Let Q(x) denote the statement “x = x + 1.”What is the truth value of the quantification
∃xQ(x), where the domain consists of all real numbers?
Solution: Because Q(x) is false for every real number x, the existential quantification of
Q(x), which is ∃xQ(x), is false.
• When all elements in the domain can be listed—say, x1, x2, . . . , xn—the existential
quantification ∃xP(x) is the same as the disjunction
• P(x1) ∨ P(x2) ∨ · · · ∨ P(xn), because this disjunction is true if and only if at least one
of P(x1), P(x2), . . . , P (xn) is true.
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 The Existential quantifier:

Negations of quantified statement:

• For instance, consider the negation of the statement “Every student in your
class has taken a course in calculus.” This statement is a universal
quantification, namely,
• ∀xP(x),
• where P(x) is the statement “x has taken a course in calculus” and the domain
consists of the students in your class. The negation of this statement is “It is
not the case that every student in your class has taken a course in calculus.”
This is equivalent to “There is a student in your class who has not taken a
course in calculus.” And this is simply the existential quantification of the
negation of the original propositional function, namely,
• ∃x ￢P(x).
• This example illustrates the following logical equivalence:
• ￢∀xP(x) ≡ ∃x ￢P(x).

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Bound and Free variable:
• When a quantifiers is used on the variable x or when a value is assigned to this
variable , then the occurrence of variable is said to be bound and an
occurrence of a variable that not bound by a quantifier or set equal to a
particular value, is said to be free variable.
• A propositional function does not have a truth value. i. e . A statement with
free variables is not a proposition. A set with no free variables is a proposition.

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• Express the statement as logical expression:
i Every student spends more than 5 hours every weekday in class
ii. There is a student who spends more than 5 hours every weekday a class.
• Soln:
Let P(x) denote the statement x spends more than 5 hours every weekday in
class and let the universe of discourse for x is the set of students. Then the
statements i and ii can be written as i ∀xP(x) ii ∃x P(x).

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