Discrete Mathematics - Propositional Logic

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The rules of mathematical logic specify methods of reasoning mathematical

statements. Greek philosopher, Aristotle, was the pioneer of logical reasoning.
Logical reasoning provides the theoretical base for many areas of mathematics
and consequently computer science. It has many practical applications in
computer science like design of computing machines, artificial intelligence,
definition of data structures for programming languages etc.

Propositional Logic is concerned with statements to which the truth values, true
and false, can be assigned. The purpose is to analyze these statements either
individually or in a composite manner.

Prepositional Logic Definition

A proposition is a collection of declarative statements that has either a truth value
"true or a truth value "false". 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 = 3 2", it returns truth value FALSE

The following is not a Proposition −

 "A is less than 2". It is because unless we give a specific value of A, we cannot say
whether the statement is true or false.
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Connectives
In propositional logic generally we use five connectives which are −

OR (∨)
AND (∧)


 Negation/ NOT (¬)

If and only if (⇔).

 Implication / if-then (→)


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 −

 A B A∨B

True True True

True False True

False True True

False False False

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 −

A B A∧B

True True True

True False False

False True False

False False False

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 −

A ¬A

True False

False True

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 −

A B A→B

True True True

True False False

False True True

 False False True

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 −

A B A⇔B

True True True

True False False

False True False

False False True

Tautologies
A Tautology is a formula which is always true for every value of its propositional
variables.

Example − Prove [(A→B)∧A]→B is a tautology

The truth table is as follows −

A B A→B (A → B) ∧ A [( A → B ) ∧ A] → B

True True True True True

True False False False True

False True True False True

False False True False True

As we can see every value of [(A→B)∧A]→B is "True", it is a tautology.

Contradictions
A Contradiction is a formula which is always false for every value of its
propositional variables.

Example − Prove (A∨B)∧[(¬A)∧(¬B)] is a contradiction

The truth table is as follows −
 A B A∨B ¬A ¬B (¬ A) ∧ ( ¬ B) (A ∨ B) ∧ [( ¬ A) ∧ (¬ B)]

True True True False False False False

True False True False True False False

False True True True False False False

False False False True True True False

As we can see every value of (A∨B)∧[(¬A)∧(¬B)] is False, it is a contradiction.

Contingency
A Contingency is a formula which has both some true and some false values for
every value of its propositional variables.

Example − Prove (A∨B)∧(¬A) a contingency

The truth table is as follows −

A B A∨B ¬A (A ∨ B) ∧ (¬ A)

True True True False False

True False True False False

False True True True True

False False False True False

As we can see every value of (A∨B)∧(¬A) has both True and False, it is a
contingency.

Propositional Equivalences
Two statements X and Y are logically equivalent if any of the following two
conditions hold −

 The truth tables of each statement have the same truth values.
 The bi-conditional statement X⇔Y is a tautology.

Example − Prove ¬(A∨B)and[(¬A)∧(¬B)] are equivalent

Testing by 1st method (Matching truth table)

 A B A∨B ¬ (A ∨ B) ¬A ¬B [(¬ A) ∧ (¬ B)]

True True True False False False False

True False True False False True False

False True True False True False False

False False False True True True True

Here, we can see the truth values of ¬(A∨B)and[(¬A)∧(¬B)] are same,

hence the statements are equivalent.

Testing by 2nd method (Bi-conditionality)

A B ¬ (A ∨ B ) [(¬ A) ∧ (¬ B)] [¬ (A ∨ B)] ⇔ [(¬ A ) ∧ (¬ B)]

True True False False True

True False False False True

False True False False True

False False True True True

As [¬(A∨B)]⇔[(¬A)∧(¬B)] is a tautology, the statements are equivalent.

Inverse, Converse, and Contra-positive

Implication / if-then (→) is also called a conditional statement. It has two parts −
 Hypothesis, p
 Conclusion, q

As mentioned earlier, it is denoted as p→q.

Example of Conditional Statement − If you do your homework, you will not be
punished. Here, "you do your homework" is the hypothesis, p, and "you will not be
punished" is the conclusion, q.

Inverse − An inverse of the conditional statement is the negation of both the

hypothesis and the conclusion. If the statement is If p, then q, the inverse will be If
not p, then not q. Thus the inverse of p→q is ¬p→¬q.

Example − The inverse of If you do your homework, you will not be punished is If
you do not do your homework, you will be punished.
 Converse − The converse of the conditional statement is computed by
interchanging the hypothesis and the conclusion. If the statement is If p, then q,
the converse will be If q, then p. The converse of p→q is q→p.

Example − The converse of "If you do your homework, you will not be punished"
is "If you will not be punished, you do your homework.

Contra-positive − The contra-positive of the conditional is computed by

interchanging the hypothesis and the conclusion of the inverse statement. If the
statement is If p, then q, the contra-positive will be If not q, then not p. The contra-
positive of p→q is ¬q→¬p.

Example − The Contra-positive of " If you do your homework, you will not be
punished is "If you are punished, you did not do your homework.

Duality Principle
Duality principle states that for any true statement, the dual statement obtained
by interchanging unions into intersections (and vice versa) and interchanging
Universal set into Null set (and vice versa) is also true. If dual of any statement is
the statement itself, it is said self-dual statement.

Example − The dual of (A∩B)∪C is (A∪B)∩C

Normal Forms
We can convert any proposition in two normal forms −

 Conjunctive normal form

 Disjunctive normal form

Conjunctive Normal Form

A compound statement is in conjunctive normal form if it is obtained by operating
AND among variables (negation of variables included) connected with ORs. In
terms of set operations, it is a compound statement obtained by Intersection
among variables connected with Unions.

Examples

 (A∨B)∧(A∨C)∧(B∨C∨D)
 (P∪Q)∩(Q∪R)

Disjunctive Normal Form

A compound statement is in disjunctive normal form if it is obtained by operating
OR among variables (negation of variables included) connected with ANDs. In
 terms of set operations, it is a compound statement obtained by Union among
variables connected with Intersections.

Examples

 (A∧B)∨(A∧C)∨(B∧C∧D)
 (P∩Q)∪(Q∩R)

Logical Equivalence in Discrete Mathematics

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Logical equivalence is a fundamental concept in propositional logic. It is used in

analyzing and transforming logical statements into more manageable forms.

In this chapter, we will explain the meaning of logical equivalence and understand
how truth tables help us verify equivalence. We will also demonstrate how
recognizing logical equivalence can simplify complex expressions.

What is Logical Equivalence?

Logical equivalence is the relationship between two statements that have the
same truth value in every possible scenario. In simpler terms, we can say two
statements are logically equivalent if they are both either True or False. It is like
saying two people always agreeing on every topic.

Mathematically, we can express this relationship between two

statements P and Q by writing P ≡ Q, which means P and Q are logically
equivalent.

Understanding Logical Equivalence Using Truth Tables

Like logics, a truth table is a tool to determine whether two statements are
logically equivalent. We list out all possible truth values for each statement and
then compare the results. If the truth values match in every case, the statements
are logically equivalent.

Example of Logical Equivalence of P → Q and ¬P ∨ Q

 then Q) and ¬P ∨ Q (not P or Q). To prove these two statements are logically
Let us see an example of logical equivalence between two statements, P → Q (if P

equivalent, we construct the truth table −

P Q P→Q ¬P ∨ Q

T T T T

T F F F

F T T T

F F T T

Q and ¬P ∨ Q are logically equivalent.

As we can see, the final columns of both statements are the same, meaning P →

De Morgan's Laws
We have learnt the concept of De Morgan’s Laws in Set Theory and Boolean
algebra. They are a set of logical equivalences in discrete mathematics. These laws
show us a way to distribute negations across conjunctions (ANDs) and disjunctions
(ORs). They are useful in simplifying complex logical expressions.

De Morgan's Laws are −

¬(P ∧ Q) ≡ ¬P ∨ ¬Q
¬(P ∨ Q) ≡ ¬P ∧ ¬Q



Example of Logical Equivalence Using De Morgans Law

Let us see how to apply De Morgan's law to check if the statements ¬(P ∨
Q) and ¬P ∧ ¬Q are logically equivalent.
P Q ¬(P ∨ Q) ¬P ∧ ¬Q

T T F F

T F F F
 F T F F

F F T T

As the truth values are the same, De Morgan's law holds, confirming that ¬(P ∨ Q)
≡ ¬P ∧ ¬Q

Negation of Implications
Another useful but trickier thing is negation of implications. The negation of an

being true and the conclusion being false. In other words, ¬(P → Q) ≡ P ∧ ¬Q
implication P → Q is not another implication. It is a conjunction of the hypothesis

Example of Negating an Implication

Let us see the prove that ¬(P → Q) ≡ P ∧ ¬Q without using a truth table by
breaking it down step-by-step −

Recall that P → Q is equivalent to ¬P ∨ Q (We also proved this in the first example)
 Start with ¬(P → Q).

Now apply negation: ¬(¬P ∨ Q)



Using De Morgan’s Law, we get ¬¬P ∧ ¬Q



Finally, simplify the double negation to P ∧ ¬Q




≡ P ∧ ¬Q
By using logical transformations instead of truth tables, we showed that ¬(P → Q)

More Complex Examples of Logical Equivalence

We have understood the basics examples. Let us see some of the complex
examples where we have much things to do. Let us determine whether it is
logically equivalent to another statement using a truth table.

Example: Are (P ∨ Q) → R and (P → R) ∨ (Q → R) Logically

Equivalent?
Constructing the truth table −

P Q R (P ∨ Q) → R (P → R) ∨ (Q → R)

T T T T T

T T F F F

T F T T T

T F F F T
 F T T T T

F T F F T

F F T T T

F F F T T

statements are not logically equivalent. However, in certain scenarios, (P ∨ Q) → R

In the fourth and sixth rows, the truth values differ, meaning that the two

implies (P → R) ∨ (Q → R), but not the reverse.

Applications of Logical Equivalence

Let us see where we can use logical equivalence to solve complex problems −

 Simplifying Proofs − When tackling a complex proof, recognizing equivalent statements

can simplify the process. This allows us to rephrase parts of the proof into simpler forms.
 Boolean Algebra − Logical equivalence plays a key role in Boolean algebra, which is
used in circuit design and computer programming. By using logical equivalences, complex
Boolean expressions can be simplified for easier implementation.
 Algorithm Optimization − In computer science, algorithms that involve decision-making
processes can be optimized by identifying and using logically equivalent expressions that
are faster to compute.