Discrete

Structures
Instructor:
Assoc. Prof. Ahmed Sherif Zekri

Slides are mainly adapted from the book slides

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Let’s get started with...

Logic!

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 Why logic?
• The rules of logic specify the meaning of
mathematical statements.
e.g.
“There exists an integer that is not the
sum of two squares”

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 Propositional Logic
• Crucial for mathematical reasoning
• Important for program design
• Applied in computer circuits design

• (Propositional) Logic is a system based on

propositions.
• A proposition is a (declarative) statement
that is either true (1) or false (0) (not both).

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 The Statement/Proposition Game

“Elephants are bigger than mice.”

Is this a statement? yes

Is this a proposition? yes

What is the truth value

of the proposition? true

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 Combining Propositions

One or more propositions can be combined

to form a single compound proposition.

We formalize this by denoting propositions

with letters such as p, q, r, s, and
introducing several logical operators.

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Logical Operators (Connectives)
Negation (NOT, )
• Conjunction (AND, )
• Disjunction (OR,)
• Exclusive-or (XOR,  )
• Implication (if – then, → )
• Biconditional (if and only if,  )

Truth tables can be used to show how these

operators can combine propositions to form
compound propositions. 7
 Negation (NOT)

Unary Operator, Symbol: 

P  P
true (T) false (F)
false (F) true (T)

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 Conjunction (AND)
Binary Operator, Symbol: 
P Q P Q
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F F

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 Disjunction (OR)
Binary Operator, Symbol: 
P Q P Q
T T T
T F T
F T T
F F F

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 Exclusive Or (XOR)
Binary Operator, Symbol: 
P Q PQ
T T F
T F T
F T T
F F F

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 Implication (if - then)
Binary Operator, Symbol: →
P Q P→Q
T T T
T F F
F T T
F F T

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Biconditional (if and only if)
Binary Operator, Symbol: 
P Q PQ
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F T

p → qq → p 13
Statements and Operators
Statements and operators can be combined in any
way to form new statements.

P Q P Q (P)(Q)
T T F F F
T F F T T
F T T F T
F F T T T

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Statements and Operations
Statements and operators can be combined in any
way to form new statements.

P Q PQ (PQ) (P)(Q)

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

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 Boolean operators summary
not not and or xor conditional Bi-
conditional
p q p q pq pq pq p→q pq
T T F F T T F T T
T F F T F T T F F
F T T F F T T T F
F F T T F F F T T
 Precedence of operators
Just as in algebra, operators have
precedenc
e.g. 4+3*2 = 4+(3*2), not (4+3)*2
Precedence order (from highest to
lowest):
¬→↔
e.g. p  q  ¬r → s ↔ t yields:
(p  (q  (¬r)) → s) ↔ (t)
¬ is always performed before any other
operation
 Logic and Bit Operations
Computers represent information using bits:
0 (T) and 1 (F).
A variable is called a Boolean variable if its
value is either true or false.
Computer bit operations correspond to the
logical connectives.

¬   

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Example

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 Applications of Propositional Logic

• Logic circuits
• Translating English Sentences

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 Logic Circuits

Propositional logic can be applied to

the design of computer hardware
A logic circuit (or digital circuit)
receives input signals p1, p2, . . . ,
pn, each a bit [ 0 (off) or 1 (on)],
and produces output signals s1,
s2, . . . , sn, each a bit.
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 Example

(p ∧￢q) ∨ ￢r

Determine the output for the combinatorial circuit in

Figure 2. 22
 Application of negation
The negation ¬ is used to find the
binary code of a positive integer!
Get the 2’s complement of an integer to
know its negative value.
Example: 01012 = 5
Find its negative -5:
Negate 5 then add 1
10102 + 1 = 10112)
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1bit adder

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 Translating English
Sentences
* If the moon is out and it is not snowing, then
Ali goes out for a walk.
( t  u ) → s

* If it is snowing and the moon is not out, then Ali

will not go out for a walk.
( u  t ) → s
s: Ali goes out for a walk.
t: The moon is out.
u: It is snowing.
 Translating English
Sentences
– p : “It is below freezing”
– q : “It is snowing”

It is below freezing and it is snowing

It is below freezing but not snowing
It is not below freezing and it is not snowing
It is either snowing or below freezing (or both)
pq
p  ¬q
¬p  ¬q
pq
 Cont.
– p : “It is below freezing”
– q : “It is snowing”

If it is below freezing, it is also snowing

It is either below freezing or it is snowing,
but it is not snowing if it is below freezing
That it is below freezing is necessary and
sufficient for it to be snowing
p→q

(pq) (p→¬q)

p↔q
 Equivalent Statements
P Q (PQ) (P)(Q) (PQ)  (P)(Q)

T T F F T
T F T T T
F T T T T
F F T T T
The statements (PQ) and (P)  (Q) are logically
equivalent, since they have the same truth table, or put
it in another way, (PQ) (P)  (Q) is always true.
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 Equivalence
Definition: two propositional statements
S1 and S2 are said to be (logically)
equivalent, denoted S1  S2 if
– They have the same truth table,
or
– S1  S2 is a tautology

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 Equivalence Laws
– Identity law, P  T  P,
– Domination law, P  F  F,
– Idempotent law, P  P  P,
– Double negation law,  ( P)  P
– Commutative law, P  Q  Q  P,
– Associative law, P  (Q  R) (P  Q)  R,
– Distributive law, P  (Q  R) (P  Q)  (P  R),
– De Morgan’s law,  (PQ)  ( P)  ( Q)
– Law with implication P→ Q PQ

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Constructing New Logical Equivalences

Equivalences in Tables 6,7,8 can be

used to construct additional logical
equivalences.

Example:
Show that: ￢(p → q) and p ∧￢q are
logically equivalent.

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 Way1: By truth table
p q ¬q p→ q ¬(p→ q) p ¬ q
T T F T F F

T F T F T T

F T F T F F

F F T T F F

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 Way1: By truth table
p q ¬q p→ q ¬(p→ q) p ¬ q
T T F T F F

T F T F T T

F T F T F F

F F T T F F

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 Way2
• Use logical identities that we
already know to establish new logical
identities (e.g. Tables 6,7,8),
• This way is of practical importance
for establishing equivalences of
compound propositions with a large
number of variables.
• difficult to draw truth tables in this case!

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Start with one of the two statements
and try to get the other statement:
￢(p → q)
≡ ￢(￢p ∨ q) Law of implication

≡ ￢(￢p)∧￢q Law of double negation

≡ p ∧￢q
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 Exercise
Show that ￢(p ∨ (￢p ∧ q)) and ￢p ∧￢q are
logically equivalent by developing a series
of logical equivalences.

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 Questions
Q1: How many rows are required
to construct the truth-table of:
[(p ∨ q) ∧ (p → r) ∧ (q → r)] → r

Q2: How many rows are required

to construct the truth table of a
proposition involving n atomic
propositions?
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 Fundamentals of Logic
• A compound proposition that is always true, no
matter what the truth values of the
propositional variables that occur in it, is called
a tautology.
• A compound proposition that is always false is
called a contradiction.
• A compound proposition that is neither a
tautology nor a contradiction is called a
contingency.
p ∨ ￢p : tautology
p  ￢p : contradiction
 Tautology example

Demonstrate that
[¬p (p q )]→q
is a tautology.
There are two ways:
1. Construct a truth table and show
that [¬p (p q )]→q is
always true
2. Using a proof (apply rules).
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 Tautology by truth table
p q ¬p p q ¬p (p q ) [¬p (p q )]→q
T T

T F

F T

F F
 Tautology by truth table
p q ¬p p q ¬p (p q ) [¬p (p q )]→q
T T F

T F F

F T T

F F T
 Tautology by truth table
p q ¬p p q ¬p (p q ) [¬p (p q )]→q
T T F T

T F F T

F T T T

F F T F
 Tautology by truth table
p q ¬p p q ¬p (p q ) [¬p (p q )]→q
T T F T F

T F F T F

F T T T T

F F T F F
 Tautology by truth table
p q ¬p p q ¬p (p q ) [¬p (p q )]→q
T T F T F T

T F F T F T

F T T T T T

F F T F F T
 Derivational Proof
Techniques
Use derivational proof techniques to
show that the proposition
(p →p )  ((s  r)t) )  (q →r )
is a tautology.

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 Derivational Proof
Techniques

(p →p )  ((s  r)t )) 
(q→r )
≡ T  ((sr)t ))  (q→r )
≡ T

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Example

Prove that: (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
 Tautology by proof
Prove that [¬p (p q )]→q is a tautology.
 [(¬p p)(¬p q)]→q Distributive Law
 [ F  (¬p q)]→q Negation Law
 [¬p q ]→q Identity Law
 ¬ [¬p q ]  q Implication Law
 [¬(¬p) ¬q ]  q DeMorgan Law
 [p  ¬q ]  q Double Negation
 p  [¬q q ] Associative Law
 p  [q ¬q ] Commutative Law
pT Negation Law
T Domination Law
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