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CM10196
Lecture Notes 1
Issued 4 October 2019
1. Propositions
We will be studying elements of the mathematical logic, more precisely, of propositional
calculus. A basic concept here is a proposition, or a statement, which is assumed to be
either true or false, but not both at the same time. In propositional calculus we are not
concerned with the content of a statement but only with its true/false value. This approach
is similar to the way the arithmetic treats quantities, describing them by numbers. Laws
of, say, addition are indifferent to what is added up: apples or pounds of sterling.
2. Logical connectives
Logic studies ways of constructing complex statements from simple ones by means of
operations called logical connectives. The most important connectives are described below.
Since we are interested only in true/false values of statements, to define an operation means
just to state which of these two values the result of operation obtains depending on values
of operands.
In what follows, the value true (resp. false) will be abbreviated to t (resp. f).
Conjunction (logical and). Let x and y be propositions. Conjunction of x and y is the
proposition denoted by x ∧ y and defined by the following table.
x y x∧y
t t t
t f f
f t f
f f f
From the table we see that a conjunction of two propositions is true if and only if
each of these propositions is true.
Disjunction (logical or). Let x and y be propositions. Disjunction of x and y is the
proposition denoted by x ∨ y and defined by the following table.
x y x∨y
t t t
t f t
f t t
f f f
From the table we see that a disjunction of two propositions is false if and only if
each of these propositions is false. Note that the disjunction is “inclusive or”. Sometimes
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a different connective, called XOR (“exclusive or”), is used. XOR differs from ∨ only when
x and y both have value t, in which case the value of XOR is defined as f.
Implication (logical if — then). Let x and y be propositions. Implication from x to y
is the proposition denoted by x → y (sometimes by x ⊃ y) and defined by the following
table.
x y x→y
t t t
t f f
f t t
f f t
If x → y, then x is called the assumption of the implication while y is called its
consequence. From the table we see that an implication of two propositions is false if and
only if the assumption is true while the consequence is false, in other words, if and only
if true implies false.
Negation (logical not). Let x be a proposition. Negation of x is the proposition denoted
by ¬x and defined by the following table.
x ¬x
t f
f t
From the table we see that the negation of a proposition is true if and only if the
proposition is false.
3. Boolean formulae
Recall that passing to from primary school mathematics to algebra involves replacing
concrete numbers by letters in order to be able to formulate mathematical laws or theorems
in their general forms. These letters are called variables standing for numbers. Similar
reasons lead us to introducing variables standing for propositions. From variables, logical
connectives and parenthesis we can construct Boolean or propositional formulae.
Definition Let symbols X1 , . . . , Xn be variables. Boolean formula is a string of symbols
from the set
{X1 , . . . , Xn , ∧, ∨, →, ¬, (, )}
which is organized as follows.
(1) Any variable Xi , (1 ≤ i ≤ n) is a Boolean formula.
(2) If F and G are two Boolean formulae, then expressions (F ∧ G), (F ∨ G), (F → G)
and ¬F are Boolean formulae.
We usually drop the most external parenthesis in a Boolean formula.
Example The following string is a Boolean formula:
(X → ¬Y ) ∨ (¬Z ∧ Y ),
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while the next one is not:
(X →))
(a consequence in the implication is missing, parenthesis unbalanced).
By assigning concrete true/false values to variables in a Boolean formula F and using

defining tables for connectives one can compute the concrete true/false value of F . This
is like assigning numerical values to variables a, b in the expression a + b and getting the
corresponding numerical value of the sum.
Example Assign the following values to variables:
X t
Y t
Z f
Then the value of the formula
(X → ¬Y ) ∨ (¬Z ∧ Y )
becomes t. On the other hand, for the assignment
X t
Y t
Z t
the value of that formula is f.
4. Tautologies
Definition A Boolean formula F with variables X1 , . . . , Xn is called identically true or
tautology if for any assignment of true/false values to variables the value of F is t.
Examples The following Boolean formulae are tautologies (very useful in everyday math-
ematical reasoning).
X ∨ ¬X
¬¬X → X
X → ¬¬X
¬(X ∧ ¬X)
((¬X → Y ) ∧ (¬X → ¬Y )) → X.
Clearly, one can generate many other tautologies by replacing variables in these formulae
by arbitrary Boolean formulae.
It is convenient to use the abbreviation F ≡ G for the Boolean formula (F → G) ∧

(G → F ), where F and G are some Boolean formulae. It is easy to see that F ≡ G has
value t if and only if F and G have the same truth value (i.e., either both have value t or
both have value f). Thus, the second and the third formulae in the previous example can
be combined in a single tautology
¬¬X ≡ X.

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CM10196

By assigning concrete true/false values to variables in a Boolean formula F and using

It is convenient to use the abbreviation F ≡ G for the Boolean formula (F → G) ∧

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