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Logic is used in everyday life, from simple deduction that your friend lied to you to the way
computers work by means of Boolean logic. Logic is especially used by scientists because it deals with
the principles and criteria of validity of inference and demonstration. It helps decide which statements are
true, and which are valid/invalid arguments. Mathematical reasoning is applied in law, philosophy,
computer science, and many more. It began as a search for universal truths that were unquestionable.
But logic alone cannot work without the help of statements called propositions. Propositions are
declarative sentences that are either true or false, but not both. Truth value is the truth or falsehood of a
proposition. Propositional logic makes use of declarative sentences, while Symbolic logic makes use of
variables and symbols to determine the truth of a sentence (i.e. Algebra).
1 + 1 = 11
5>6
Negation (¬)
Conjunction (^)
Disjunction (v)
Conditionals (→)
o The statement “If the ocean is red, the moon is made of cheese.” is logically true,
even if it is in reality false. So beware of politicians and lawyers!
Biconditionals (↔)
o p if and only if q.
For example:
T T T T T
T F F F T
F T T T T
F F T T F
Therefore, the statement “If you have a current password, then you can log onto the network. You
have a current password. Therefore, you can log onto the network. ” is false only if you don’t have a
current password and you can’t log onto the network.
If the truth value of the whole statement is always false, it is called a contradiction. A
contradiction is a compound proposition that is always false. On the other hand, a tautology is a
compound proposition that is always true, like the compound proposition p v ¬p. Lastly, a compound
proposition is a contingency if it is neither a tautology nor a contradiction.
If two compound propositions have the same truth values, then they are called logically
equivalent (p ≡ q). There are many laws on logical equivalences to help simplify a compound proposition.
Some of them include:
Last challenge! Show that the statements “It is not sunny this afternoon and it is colder than
yesterday.”, “We will go swimming only if it is sunny.”, “If we do not go swimming, then we will take a
trip.” and “If we take a trip, then we will be home by sunset.” lead to the conclusion “We will be home by
sunset.”
Remember, do not believe every argument you come across. Many are either invalid, untrue or both.
These rules of logic give the foundations of mathematics!
Bibliography:
Barnett, R., Byleen, K. & Ziegler, M. (2008). College Mathematics For Business, Economics, Life
Science and Social Science. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
Carney, J. (1970). Introduction to Symbolic Logic. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc.
Answers :D
Only the first, second and fourth are propositions (their respective values are true, false and
false). The third and fifth statements are not propositions because they are neither true nor
false.
Let the statement Sunny be q; Colder than yesterday p; Go swimming x; Take a trip y; and
Home by sunset z. Then the problem will have the following form: ¬q ^ p, x ↔ q, ¬x → y,
and y → z. Therefore, ¬x → z. But, x ↔ q has the same truth value as ¬x ↔ ¬q. So, ¬q → z.
But ¬q must be with p (¬q ^ p), which leads to ¬q ^ p → z.