Mathematical Language and Logic (Part 5)
Mathematical Language and Logic (Part 5)
Mathematics Area
De La Salle Lipa
Contents
Equivalent Statements
Equivalent Statements
One application of truth tables is illustrated by showing
that two statements are equivalent; by definition, two
statements are equivalent if they have the same truth
value in every possible situation. The columns of each
truth table that were the last to be completed will be
exactly the same for equivalent statements.
Equivalent Statements
Example
Show that ∼ (p ∨ q) and ∼ p ∧ ∼ q are equivalent
statements.
Solution:
Construct two truth tables and compare the results. The
truth tables on the next page show that ∼ (p ∨ q) and
∼ p ∧ ∼ q have the same truth values for all possible
truth values of their component statements. Thus, the
statements are equivalent.
Equivalent Statements
Example
Show that ∼ (p ∨ q) and ∼ p ∧ ∼ q are equivalent
statements.
p q p∨q ∼ (p ∨ q)
T T T F
T F T F
F T T F
F F F T
p q ∼p ∼q ∼p∧∼q
T T F F F
T F F T F
F T T F F
F F T T T
(Mathematics Area De La Salle Lipa) Module 2:Mathematical Language and Logic 5 / 12
Some Fundamentals of Logic Equivalent Statements
Equivalent Statements
De Morgan’s Laws
For any statements p and q,
∼ (p ∨ q) ≡ ∼ p ∧ ∼ q
∼ (p ∧ q) ≡ ∼ p ∨ ∼ q
Equivalent Statements
Solution:
Let p represent the statement “I graduated.” Let q
represent the statement “I got a job.”. In symbolic form,
the original sentence is ∼ (p ∨ q). One of De Morgan’s
Laws states that this is equivalent to ∼ p ∧ ∼ q. Thus a
sentence that is equivalent to the original sentence is
“I did not graduate and I did not get a job.”
(Mathematics Area De La Salle Lipa) Module 2:Mathematical Language and Logic 7 / 12
Some Fundamentals of Logic Variations of the Conditional Statement
Remark
The conditional statement and the contrapositive are
equivalent, and the converse and the inverse are
equivalent.
Examples:
Give the converse, inverse, and contrapositive of the
following implications:
1 If this movie is interesting, then I am watching it.
Answers:
a Converse: If I am watching this movie, then it is
interesting.
b Inverse: If this movie is not interesting, then I am
not watchig it.
c Contrapositive: If I am not watching this movie, then
it is not interesting.
Examples:
Give the converse, inverse, and contrapositive of the
following implications:
2 If p is a prime number, then it is odd.
Answers:
a Converse: If p is an odd number, then it is prime.
b Inverse: If p is not a prime number, then it is not
odd.
c Contrapositive: If p is not odd, then it is not a prime
number.