Introduction to Logic. Copyright © 2005, by Arie Bialostocki. All rights reserved.

1.1 Mathematizing our Spoken Language

Propositions and the notion of Truth Value:

Composing propositions and well formed formulas:

Propositions and the Notion of Truth Value: The fundamental building blocks of
Mathematical Logic are called propositions. The question what is a proposition is a very
fundamental question in philosophy and not all philosophers have the same answer. Most
textbooks define a proposition as: “a meaningful non-ambiguous declarative sentence, to
which it is possible to assign what we call a truth-value, true or false.”

If we try to analyze this complicated definition we are getting into a minefield. In

deciding whether a given sentence is a proposition we have to decide on two issues.

1. The first issue is, whether the sentence is a meaningful non-ambiguous declarative
sentence. We shall refer to such sentences as to statements.

2. The second issue that we have to question, whether given statement, can we assign to it
a truth-value?

Recall that as was said before questions concerning the grammatical structure of a
sentence belong to the area called the syntax of the language, and questions concerning
the content of a sentence belong to the area called semantics. Two sentences can have a
different syntax and the same semantics. For instance, “I picked up the book from the
table” and “The book was picked up by me from the table.”

In the next Example we will depict some sentences and try to decide whether a sentence
is meaningful non-ambiguous and declarative.

Example 1

(a) The sentence “Please, bring me the ball” is a request and not a declarative sentence.
Therefore it is even not a statement.

(b) The sentence “Have you done your homework”? is a question and not a declarative
sentence. Therefore it is even not a statement.

(c) The sentence “Oh, what a beautiful morning!” is an exclamation and not a declarative
sentence. Therefore it is even not a statement,

(d) The sentence “The volume of a circle whose radius is five pounds equal six degrees.”
Though, the syntax, or in other words the grammatical structure, of this sentence is
correct it is meaningless, therefore it is even not a statement.

(e) The sentence “I want a pancake and orange juice or a banana” is ambiguous.
Therefore it is even not a statement.

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Introduction to Logic. Copyright © 2005, by Arie Bialostocki. All rights reserved.

(f) The sentence “ 3 + 3 = 4 + 4 ” is a meaningful non-ambiguous declarative sentence

though it is written symbolically. Therefore it is a statement and if we can assign to it a
truth-value it will be a proposition.

(g) The sentence “The color of the sky is blue” is a meaningful non-ambiguous
declarative sentence. Therefore it is a statement and if we can assign to it a truth-value it
will be a proposition.

Next, we shall deal with the problem of assigning a truth-value to statements. Thus, we
have to consider the semantics of sentences. Each of us lives with many assumptions,
though none of us has made a complete list of his or her assumptions, but it exists.
Mathematicians call them axioms. Many assumptions are common to most of us for
example the assumption that we trust our senses. Other assumptions are individual, for
instance assumptions that concern religion. People of different religions have different
beliefs or in our terminology, different assumptions. Besides the world of assumptions
that we live in, we live in a world of knowledge and information. In order to decide
whether we can assign a truth-value to a given statement, we have to restrict the question
to be dealt in a given framework of assumptions, knowledge and information.

Since we are mostly interested in statements that appear in a mathematical context, we

shall restrict ourselves to such statements. The basic rules of deductive reasoning refer to
statements that can be assigned a truth-value true or false, and hence are propositions.
The axioms that we state while we develop some mathematical theory are statements that
are assigned the truth-value true, and hence are propositions. The theorems that can be
proved from the axioms using the rules of deductive reasoning are statements that are
assigned the truth-value true, and hence are propositions. The following Example depicts
some statements in the grey area. The question whether we can assign to each of them a
truth value is a deep philosophical question.

Example 2

(a) “The middle digit (or the first of the two middle digits if the number of digit is even)
of the number 21,000,000,000,000, 000, 000,000,000,000, 000, 000, 000,000,000,000, 000, 000 is equal to 1”. This
statement is decidable in finite time and hence it is a proposition. Although, according to
scientists, even with the fastest computers, the human race will never know the truth-
value of this statement, so some philosophers will question it.

(b) “In the decimal expansion of π there are one hundred consecutive zeros.” Although
we know how to compute the decimal expansion of π , so far we have not found one
hundred consecutive zeros and nobody knows how to prove whether or not we shall be
able to find them in finite time.

Mathematicians would say that if we have a “procedure” which takes the statement as an
input and it terminates and provides us with the output of “true” or “false”, then the
statement is a proposition. However, what they mean by a “procedure”? And if they do
not know whether the “procedure” exists?

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Introduction to Logic. Copyright © 2005, by Arie Bialostocki. All rights reserved.

Composing Propositions and Well Defined Formulas: Once we have two propositions,
we can combine them with an operation, called also a connective. The three major
connectives of propositions are “and”, “or” and “If …then…”. In addition, we are
allowed to negate a proposition. In more advanced terminology, we have defined a
legitimate expression in our mathematical language composed of propositions, known as
a well formed formula. In the following examples we will depict the problematic issues
in the above connectives and how they differ appearing in a mathematical context or in
our spoken language.

Example 3 (Negation)

(a) Pam wears glasses.

The negation is simply “Pam does not wear glasses.” In our spoken language one
possibly will accept “Pam wears contacts” or “The vision of Pam is excellent.” In
Mathematics, for a given proposition p, the negation of p has to have the following two
properties:
1. Either p or its negation has to be true.
2. The proposition and its negation take different truth values. If one of them is true then
the other one is false.

In the English language there are some prefixes which negate adjectives, verbs or nouns.
For example: the adjectives irregular, unpleasant, immature; the verb misunderstood and
the noun displacement. In mathematics we have to be very careful when applying these
prefixes. For example is “possible” the negation of “impossible”? The mathematical
notation for the “negation of p” is “ ¬p ”.

Example 4 (The connective “and”)

(a) I live in Idaho and John lives in Washington.

(b) I got sick and went to the doctor.
(c) You touch me and I will punch you.

The meaning of the sentence in (a) will not change if its two clauses are reversed, namely
the semantics of “I live in Idaho and John lives in Washington” is the same as of “John
lives in Washington and I lives in Idaho.” This is the mathematical “and”, it is
symmetric.

However the sentence in (b) changes its meaning if we reverse the clauses, namely, “I got
sick and went to the doctor” has a different meaning than “I went to the doctor and got
sick”. In this case the “and” as used in the spoken language is different from the
mathematical “and.”

The sentence in (c) has an interesting twist the “and” in this sentence is a conditional
“and”. The sentence means that if you will touch me, then I will punch you. Again, it is
not a mathematical “and.”

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Introduction to Logic. Copyright © 2005, by Arie Bialostocki. All rights reserved.

It is worthwhile to notice that sometimes the mathematical “and” when used in our
spoken language is occasionally replaced by ‘but” “although” and other words to give an
extra nuance to the meaning. However, as mathematicians we ignore the extra nuance,
and view it as a symmetric mathematical “and.” The mathematical notation for “p and q”
is “ p ∧ q .”

Example 5 (The connective “or”)

(a) Dan wishes to date a girl who is clever or pretty.

(b) John is currently taking either calculus or the advanced calculus.

The sentence in (a) contains an “or” which is inclusive, that means that Dan does not
mind to date a girl who is both clever and pretty. However, the sentence in (b) contains
an “or” which is exclusive, since it is very unlikely that John takes both calculus and
advanced calculus at the same time. In mathematics the “or’ is always inclusive. The
mathematical notation for “p or q” is “ p ∨ q .”

Example 6 (The connective implication “if…, then…”)

(a) If Danielle will study hard, than she will get an A.

The sentence in (a) connects two clauses, “Danielle will study hard” and “Danielle will
get an A.” This connective appears in the spoken language in many forms as is depicted
below. The mathematical notation for “p impies q” is “ p → q ”, where p is the clause
“Danielle will study hard” and q is the clause “Danielle will get an A.” We can have the
same content of the sentence if we say “Danielle will get an A, if she will study hard”
Below appears a list of expressions in our spoken language which are the same as “If …,
then… “ In mathematics we name p the assumption and q the conclusion.

1. If p, then q.
2. p implies q.
yields
3. q if p.
4. q follows from p.
5. p is a sufficient condition for q.
6. q is a necessary condition for p.
7. We can deduce q from p.
derive
conclude
infer
8. q whenever p.

The biggest problem with the implication is that contrary to the spoken language, where
no information is provided if the assumption is false, in mathematics we can not ignore
this situation. Actually, The mathematical If …, then… does not exist in the natural
languages. We will elaborate on this in the next section.

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Introduction to Logic. Copyright © 2005, by Arie Bialostocki. All rights reserved.

Remark: In the examples 1-8 above we avoided “Since p, we can deduce q “, as this
assumes that the assumption is satisfied, something that we avoid in mathematics.

SAMPLE PROBLEMS

Problem 1.1.1

Define the propositions p, q, r, s, t and u as follows:

p: John is hungry q: John wants a banana r: John wants an apple

s: It is raining t: The sun is shining u: The wind is blowing.

Write formally the following sentences using the letters p, q , r , s , t and u, use common
sense to parenthesize properly:

(a) John is hungry and John wants a banana or John wants an apple.
(b) The sun is not shining and the wind is blowing or it is raining.
(c) John is hungry but John does not want a banana, neither John wants an apple.

Solution:

(a) p ∧ (q ∨ r )
(b) ¬t ∧ (r ∨ s )
(c) p ∧ (¬q ∧ ¬r )

Problem 1.1.2

Define the propositions p, q, and r as follows:

p: Tuesday was a rainy day. q: Wednesday was a sunny day. r: I took an umbrella.

Express the following expressions as sentences in English:

(a) ( p ∧ q) → r
(b) ( p ∧ r ) → ¬q

Solution:

(a) If Tuesday was a rainy day and Wednesday was a sunny day, then I took an umbrella.

(b) If Tuesday was a rainy day and I took an umbrella, then Wednesday was not a sunny
day.

Problem 1.1.3

Given the following combined sentences. Underline the part that is the assumption.

(a) If you do not wash your hands, then your hand will be dirty.

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Introduction to Logic. Copyright © 2005, by Arie Bialostocki. All rights reserved.

(b) Clouds in the sky on Tuesday imply a rain on Wednesday.

(c) A sufficient condition for Jim to graduate from high school is that Jim will study hard.
(d) A necessary condition that David will become a pilot is for him to have good vision.
(e) Tim looks good, provided he combs his hair.

Solution:

(a) If you do not wash your hands, then your hand will be dirty.
(b) Clouds in the sky on Tuesday imply a rain on Wednesday.
(c) A sufficient condition for Jim to graduate from high school is that Jim will study hard.
(f) A necessary condition that David will become a pilot is for him to have good vision.
(g) Tim looks good, provided he combs his hair.

PRACTICE PROBLEM

1. Define the propositions p, q, r, s, t and u as follows:

p: John is rich q: John lives in a nice house r: John is handsome
s: It is raining t: The sun is shining u: The wind is blowing.

Express the following expressions in English sentences:

(a) ( p ∧ q ) → t
(b) ( s ∧ u ) → t
(c) (u → s ) → t
(d) ( p → q ) ∧ (q → p )
(e) ( p ∨ q) → r

2. Define the propositions p, q, and r as follows:

p: The bananas are green. q: The avocados are ripe. r: Green bananas should not be
refrigerated. s: Non-ripe avocados should not be refrigerated.

Express the following expressions as sentences in English:

(a) ( p ∧ q) → r
(b) ( p ∧ r ) → ¬q
(c) (r ∧ s ) → q

3. Given the following combined sentences. Underline the part that is the conclusion.

(a) If you do not brush your teeth, then you will get cavities.
(b) Smoking cigarettes implies plenty of health problems.
(c) A sufficient condition for Susan to graduate from university is that Susan will not
party.
(d) A necessary condition that David will become an athlete is for him to be in good
health.
(e) Tim looks good, provided he trims his mustache.

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Introduction to Logic. Copyright © 2005, by Arie Bialostocki. All rights reserved.

HOMEWORK 1.1

First Name ____________ Last Name ____________ Student ID ____________

1. Define the propositions p, q, r, s, t and u as follows:

p: John is hungry q: John wants a banana r: John wants an apple

s: It is raining t: The sun is shining u: The wind is blowing.

Express the following expressions in “Spoken English” sentences:

(a) p ∧ r

(b) p ∨ (¬q ∧ ¬r )

(c) p ∧ (¬s ∨ u )

(d) (¬s ∨ ¬u ) ∨ ¬q

(e) p ∧ (t ∨ ¬u )

2. a) Break up each of the following combined sentences into its components. For
example, “Tom likes apples and bananas” can be broken into “Tom likes apples”
and “Tom likes bananas”.
b) Name each component by a letter and finally write each sentence
symbolically. Apply common sense when using parenthesis.

(a) John will be either a mathematician, or a physicist or an engineer.

(b) Either Tom or Suzan will go to California but not both.

(c) John likes Suzan but does not like Linda.

(d) Linda wants to live in either a mansion or in Maine or to marry Philip.

(e) John and Linda both like chocolate cake and they both like apple pie.

(f) Broccoli contains carbohydrates and proteins but not fat.

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Introduction to Logic. Copyright © 2005, by Arie Bialostocki. All rights reserved.

(g) Tom plays poker and rummy but not pinochle.

3. Given the following combined sentences, where each sentence is of the

form p → q . Modifying slightly each part in a sentence, define the assumption p
and the conclusion q.

(a) You can conclude that it is warm, if it is not snowing.

(b) A necessary condition to pass this class is to do all the homework.
(c) Rainy weather on Wednesday implies that all of us will get wet.
(d) A sufficient condition for John to get an “A” is that John will study hard.
(e) If you drive recklessly, then you will be involved in an accident.
(f) The fact that Linda is blue-eyed follows from the fact that her parents have blue
eyes.
(g) Linda will travel abroad, if Linda will have enough money.
(h) The fact that John is a professional poker player implies that he knows the poker-
rules.
(i) Mexican food is good, provided it is spicy.

4. Given the following combined sentences. Underline the part that is the
conclusion.

(a) A stormy day yields rain.

(b) A sufficient condition to be rich is to have lots of jewels.
(c) A necessary condition to be rich is to have lots of jewels.
(d) If I have money, then I will buy a Porsche.

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