Statement of Proposition

CSCI 1900
Discrete Structures • Statement of proposition – a declarative
sentence that is either true or false, but not
both
Logical Operations • Examples:
Reading: Kolman, Section 2.1 – The earth is round: statement that is true
2+3=5: statement that is true
– Do you speak English? This is a question, not
a statement

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More Examples of Statements of Logical Connectives and

Proposition Compound Statements
• 3-x=5: is a declarative sentence, but not a • x, y, z, … denote variables that can
statement since it is true or false depending on
the value of x represent real numbers
• Take two aspirins: is a command, not a • p, q, r,… denote prepositional variables
statement
• The temperature on the surface of the planet
that can be replaced by statements.
Venus is 800oF: is a declarative statement of – p: The sun is shining today
whose truth is unknown to us – q: It is cold
• The sun will come out tomorrow: a statement
that is either true or false, but not both, although
we will have to wait until tomorrow to determine
the answer
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Negation Examples of Negation

• If p is a statement, the negation of p is the • If p: 2+3 >1 then If ~p: 2+3 <1
statement not p • If q: It is cold then ~q: It is not the case
• Denoted ~p that it is cold, i.e., It is not cold.
• If p is true, ~p is false
• If p is false, ~p is true
• ~p is not actually connective, i.e., it
doesn’t join two of anything
• not is a unary operation for the collection
of statements and ~p is a statement if p is
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 Conjunction Disjunction
• If p and q are statements, then the • If p and q are statements, then the
conjunction of p and q is the compound disjunction of p and q is the compound
statement “p and q” statement “p or q”
• Denoted p∧q • Denoted p∨q
• p∧q is true only if both p and q are true • p∨q is true if either p or q are true
• Example: • Example:
– p: ETSU parking permits are expensive – p: I am a male
– q: ETSU has plenty of parking – q: I am under 40 years old
– p∧q = ? – p∨q = ?

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Exclusive Disjunction Inclusive Disjunction

• If p and q are statements, then the • If p and q are statements, then the
exclusive disjunction is the compound inclusive disjunction is the compound
statement, “either p or q may be true, but statement, “either p or q may be true or
both are not true at the same time.” they may both be true at the same time.”
• Example: • Example:
– p: It is daytime – p: It is cold
– q: It is night time – q: It is night time
– p∨q (in the exclusive sense) = ? – p∨q (in the inclusive sense) = ?

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Exclusive versus Inclusive Compound Statements

• Depending on the circumstances, some • A compound statement is a statement made
disjunctions are inclusive and some of exclusive. from other statements
• Examples of Inclusive • For n individual propositions, there are 2n
– “I have a dog” or “I have a cat” possible combinations of truth values
– “It is warm outside” or “It is raining” • A truth table contains 2n rows identifying the
• Examples of Exclusive truth values for the statement represented by the
– Today is either Tuesday or it is Thursday table.
– Pat is either male or female • Use parenthesis to denote order of precedence
• ∧ has precedence over ∨

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 Truth Tables are Important Tools Compound Statement Example
for this Material! (p ∧ q) ∨ (~p)

p q p∧q p q p∨q p q p∧q ~p (p ∧ q) ∨ (~p)

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

F F F T T

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Quantifiers Computer Science Functions

• Back in Section 1.1, a set was defined • if P(x), then execute certain steps
{x | P(x)}
• while Q(x), do specified actions
• For an element t to be a member of the
set, P(t) must evaluate to “true”
• P(x) is called a predicate or a propositional
function

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Universal quantification of a
Examples:
predicate P(x)
• Universal quantification of predicate P(x) = • P(x): -(-x) = x
For all values of x, P(x) is true – This predicate makes sense for all real
• Denoted ∀x P(x) numbers x.
– The universal quantification of P(x), ∀x P(x),
• The symbol ∀ is called the universal
is a true statement, because for all real
quantifier numbers, -(-x) = x
• The order in which multiple quantifications • Q(x): x+1<4
are considered does not affect the truth
– ∀x Q(x) is a false statement, because, for
value (e.g., ∀x ∀y P(x,y) ≡ ∀y ∀x P(x,y) ) example, Q(5) is not true

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 Applying both universal and
Existential quantification of a
existential quantification
predicate P(x)
• Order of application does matter
• Existential quantification of a predicate P(x) is
• Example: Let A and B be n x n matrices
the statement “There exists a value of x for
• The statement ∀A ∃B A + B = In
which P(x) is true.”
• Reads “for every A there is a B such that A + B =
• Denoted ∃x P(x) In”
• Existential quantification may be applied to • Prove by coming up for equations for bii and bij (j≠i)
several variables in a predicate • Now reverse the order: ∃B ∀A A + B = In
• Reads “there exists a B such that for all A A + B =
• The order in which multiple quantifications are In”
considered does not affect the truth value • THIS IS FALSE!

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Okay, what exactly did the

Assigning Quantification to
previous slide say?
Proposition
• Assume a statement is made that “for all x,
• Let p: ∀x P(x) P(x) is true.”
• The negation of p is false when p is true – If we can find one case that is not true, then the
and true when p is false statement is false.
• For p to be false, there must be at least – If we cannot find one case that is not true, then
the statement is true.
one value of x for which P(x) is false.
• Example: ∀ positive integers, n,
• Thus, p is false if ∃x ~P(x) is true. P(n) = n2 + 41n + 41 is a prime number.
• If ∃x ~P(x) is false, then for every x, ~P(x) – This is false because ∃ an integer resulting in a
is false; that is ∀x P(x) is true. non-prime value, i.e., ∃n such that P(n) is false.

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