Republic of the Philippines

Surigao del Sur State University

Rosario, Tandag City, Surigao del Sur 8300
Telefax No. 086-214-4221
Website: www.sdssu.edu.ph

Module 2
Mathematical Language and Symbols

Lesson Introduction

This lesson will introduce you to a mathematical way of thinking that can serve you in a wide
variety of situations. Often when you start working on a mathematical problem, you may have
only a vague sense of how to proceed. You may begin by looking at examples, drawing pictures,
playing around with symbols, rereading the problem to focus on more of its details, and so forth.
The closer you get to a solution, however, the more your thinking has to crystallize. And the more
you need to understand, the more you need language that expresses mathematical ideas clearly,
precisely, and unambiguously.

This lesson aims to give you some ideas about the characteristics and conventions of mathematics
as a language that is a foundation for dealing with everyday life. It also focuses on logical symbols,
logical connectives, truth tables, tautologies, and self-contradiction.

AS LANGUAGE AS SYMBOLS

Characteristics of Logical Connectives

Mathematical
Language

Conventions of Truth Values

Mathematical Truth Tables
Language

Statements Tautologies
Self-Contradiction
 At the end of the lesson, you will be able to:

1. Discuss the language, symbols, and conventions used in

mathematics

Specific Learning 2. Explain the nature of mathematics as a language

Outcomes:
3. Evaluate mathematical expressions correctly and

4. Recognize that mathematics is a useful language.

5. Construct Truth table

TEACHING LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Definition of a Mathematical Language

For thousand years, mathematicians had developed spoken and written natural languages that
are highly effective for expressing mathematical language. This mathematical language has
developed and provides a highly efficient and powerful tool for mathematical expression,
exploration, reconstruction after exploration, and communication. Its power comes from
simultaneously being precise and yet concise. But mathematical language is being used poorly
because of poor understanding of the language. The mathematical language and logical
reasoning using that language form the everyday working experience of mathematics.

The mathematical language is the system used to communicate mathematical ideas. This
language consists of some natural language using technical terms (mathematical terms) and
grammatical conventions that are uncommon to mathematical discourse, supplemented by a
highly specialized symbolic notation for mathematical formulas. The mathematical notation
used for formulas has its own grammar and shared by mathematicians anywhere in the globe.

Characteristics of a Mathematical Language

The first characteristic of a mathematical language is being precise. Precision in mathematics is

like a culture of being correct all the time. Definition and limits should be distinction.
Mathematical ideas is being developed informally and being done more formally, with necessary
and sufficient conditions stated up front and restricting the discussion to a particular class of
objects. Mathematical culture of precision has developed a precise, highly symbolic language,
and a dialect manner that allows for the adaptation, adjustment and cumulative refinement of
concepts based on experiences, and mathematical reasoning is expected to be correct.

The second characteristic of a mathematical language is being concise or shows simplicity.

Being concise is a strong part of the culture in mathematical language. The mathematician
desires the simplest possible single exposition at the price of additional terminology and
machinery to allow all of the various particularities to be subsumed into the exposition at the
highest possible level.

The third characteristics of a mathematical language is being powerful. It is a way of expressing

complex thoughts with relative ease. The abstraction in mathematics is the desire to unify
diverse instances under a single conceptual framework and allows easier penetration of the
subject and the development of more powerful methods.

According to Galileo Galilei, “Mathematics is the language in which God has written the
universe”. It can be attributed that mathematics is a universal language because the principles
and foundations of mathematics are the same everywhere around the world.

Conventions of Mathematical Language

Mathematical languages have conventions and it helps individual distinguish between different
types of mathematical expressions. A mathematical convention is a fact, name, notation, or
usage which is generally agreed upon by mathematicians. For example, one evaluates
multiplication before addition following the principle of PEMDAS (Parenthesis, Exponent,
Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction). Mathematicians abide by conventions to be
able to understand what they write without constantly having to redefine basic terms. Almost all
mathematical names and symbols are conventional.

Any idea, no matter how simple it is, would become very difficult if there is no knowledge of
the language in which the ideas were presented. Students have trouble understanding
mathematical ideas: not necessarily because the ideas are difficult, but because they are being
presented in a foreign language—the language of mathematics.

Mathematical Expressions, Sentences, and Statements

A mathematical expression is the mathematical analogue of an English noun. It is a correct

arrangement of mathematical symbols used to represent a mathematical object of interest. An
expression does not state a complete thought; in particular, it does not make sense to ask if an
expression is true or false. A mathematical sentence is the analogue of an English sentence; it is
a correct arrangement of mathematical symbols that states a complete thought. In a mathematical
sentence, it makes sense to ask about the truth of a sentence: Is it true? Is it false? Is it sometimes
true/sometimes false?

Mathematics is a universal language. It is with own set of vocabulary, rules, and system of
communication which requires more than just knowing what those words and sentences are.
What do you think is the verb counterpart in Mathematical Language? Consider the
mathematical sentence 3 +4 = 7. The verb is ‘ = ’. If you read the sentence as ‘three plus four is
equal to seven’, then it’s easy to ‘hear’ the verb. Indeed, the equal sign ‘ = ’ is one of the most
popular mathematical verbs. Numbers have lots of different names: 5, 2+3, 102, (6-2)+1. Just
like an English word may have different synonyms: enemy, adversary, foe, opponent, etc

Sentences can be true or false. The notion of truth (i.e., the property of being true or false) is of
fundamental importance in the mathematical language. Languages have conventions. In English,
for example, it is conventional to capitalize proper names (like ‘Carol’ and ‘Christmas Day’).
This convention makes it easy for a reader to distinguish between a common noun (like ‘carol’,
a Christmas song) and a proper noun (like ‘Carol’). Mathematics also has its conventions. There
are rules on how to attach prefixes and suffixes.

A statement is a declarative sentence that is either true or false, but not both true and false. A
simple statement is a statement that conveys a single idea. A compound statement is a statement
that conveys two or more ideas.

Activity 1: Where Do I Belong?

Instruction: Classify each card according to the following categories as indicated on the table.
Write your answer on the table. God bless you!

Surigao City 3+4=7 Y + √3 = 18

The capital of CARAGA is Butuan City 5
1
Kimberly NEMCO is in Surigao City. x+2
2+3 or is
book + and -

MATHEMATICS ENGLISH
Name given to an Object
 With complete thought

Verb

Connectives
Follow-up Questions:
1. How did you get the answers on the above activity?
2. How will you differentiate those terms/statements under English and Mathematics along
with its categories?

Mathematical Symbols
The truth value of a simple statement is either true (T) or false (F). The truth value of a
compound statement depends on the truth values of its simple statements and its connectives. A
truth table is a table that shows the truth value of a compound statement for all possible truth
values of its simple statements.
1. A statement like “ 7  10 ” is true.
2. A statement like “A cat is a fish” is false.
3. A statement like “ x  5 ” is true for some values of and false for others.
Examples of statements include the following:
1. Taft is a barangay of Surigao City. (True)
2. Metro Manila is the largest city of the Philippines in population. (False)
3. 2 + 3 = 5. (True)
4. 3 < 0. (False)
The following are not statements:
1. Surigao City is the best city. (Subjective)
2. Help! (An exclamation)
3. Where were you? (A question)
4. The rain in Cabadbaran. (Not a sentence)
5. This sentence is false. (Neither true nor false!)

Logical Connectives
If two or more statements are joined, or connected, then we can form compound statements.
These compound statements are joined by logical connectives “and”, “or”, “if then”, and “if
and only if”.

Statement Connective Symbolic Form Type of Statement

not p not ~ p Negation
p and q and pq Conjunction
p or q or pq Disjunction
If p , then q If . . . then pq Conditional
p if and only if q If and only if pq Biconditional

Table 2.1. Symbolic form of compound statements with p and q as simple statements.

Statements are represented symbolically by lowercase letters (e.g., p, q, r , and s ) and new
statements can be created from existing statements in many ways.

1. NOT (⌐)
If p represents the statement “Today is Monday,” then the p p
negation of p , written ~ p and read “not p ,” is the
statement “Today is not Monday.” When a statement is
T F
true, its negation is false and when a statement is false, its
negation is true; that is, a statement and its negation have
opposite truth values. This relationship between a
F T
statement and its negation is summarized in Table 2.2.
Table 2.2. Truth table
for NEGATION

2. AND (^) p q pq

If p is the statement “It is raining” and q is the
statement “The sun is shining,” then the T T T
conjunction of p and q is the statement “It is
raining and the sun is shining” or, in symbol, “ T F F
p  q .” The conjunction of two statements p F T F
and q is true when both p and q are true. This
F F F
relationship is shown in Table 2.3.
Table 2.3. Truth table for AND

3. OR (V)

The disjunction of statements p and q is the statement “ p or q ,” denoted by p  q and is

defined through its truth table in Table 2.4.
p q pq The statement “It will rain or the sun will shine” is
true if it rains, the sun shines, or it rains and the sun
T T T
shines. That is, the inclusive “or” in p  q allows for
T F T both p and q to be true.
F T T
F F F

Table 2.4. Truth table of OR

4. IF THEN ()
AVERAGE
The statement “If p , then q ”, denoted by EARN AN
AT LEAST
p  q (read as ”If p implies q ”), is A PROMISE KEPT
90%
called an implication or conditional Yes Yes Yes
statement; p is called the hypothesis, Yes No No
and q is called the conclusion. No Yes Yes
No No Yes

To determine the truth table for p  q consider the following conditional promise given to a
math class: “If you average at least 90% on all tests, then you will earn an A.” Let p represent
“Your average is at least 90% on all tests” and q represent “You earn an A.” Then there are four
possibilities:

p q pq Notice that the only way the promise can be

broken is in line 2. In lines 3 and 4, the promise
T T T is not broken, since an average of at least 90%
T F F was not attained. (In these cases, a student may
F T T
still earn an A—it does not affect the promise
either way.) This example suggests the
F F T following truth table for the conditional.
Table 2.5. Truth table of IF THEN

Given conditional : “if p , then q ” pq;

The converse : “if q , then p ” q p;
 The inverse : “if not p , then not q ” ~ p   ~ q ;
The contrapositive : “if not q , then not p ” ~ q   ~ p .
Example. Consider again the conditional “If it is raining, then there are clouds in the sky.” It
seems reasonable to assume that this is true.
 The converse would be “If there are clouds in the sky, then it is raining.” This is not
always true.
 The inverse would be “If it is not raining, then there are not clouds in the sky.”
Likewise, this is not always true.
 The contrapositive would be “If there are not clouds in the sky, then it is not raining.”
This statement is true, and is equivalent to the original conditional.

In the next truth table, it displays the various truth values for these four conditionals.

Condition Contrapositi Convers Inverse

p q ~ p ~q ~ p ~ q
al p  q ve ~ p ~ q eq  p
T T F F T T T T
T F F T F F T T
F T T F T T F F
F F T T T T T T

Table 2.6. Truth table of any conditional, contrapositive, converse and inverse

Notice that the columns of truth values under the conditional p→q and its contrapositive are the
same. When this is the case, we say that the two statements are logically equivalent. In general,
two statements are logically equivalent when they have the same truth tables. Similarly, the
converse of p→q and the inverse of p→q have the same truth table; hence, they, too, are logically
equivalent.
 A conditional statement and its contrapositive are logically equivalent. The converse
and inverse of a conditional statement are logically equivalent.

Negation of a Conditional

The negation of a conditional statement is logically equivalent to a conjunction of the antecedent

and the negation of the consequent.

~  p  q  is equivalent to p  ~ q

5. IF AND ONLY IF ( )

The connective “ p if and only if q ,” called a biconditional and written p  q , is the

conjunction of p  q , and its converse q  p . That is, p  q is logically equivalent to
 p  q  q  p . The truth table of p  q follows.
p q pq q p  p  q  q  p pq

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

Table 2.7. Truth table for biconditional.

Notice that the biconditional p  q is true when p and q have the same truth values and false
otherwise. Often in mathematics the words necessary and sufficient are used to describe
conditionals and biconditionals. For example, the statement “Water is necessary for the
formation of ice” means “If there is ice, then there is water.” Similarly, the statement “A
rectangle with two adjacent sides the same length is a sufficient condition to determine a square”
means “If a rectangle has two adjacent sides the same length, then it is a square.” Symbolically
we have the following:

p→q means q is necessary for p

p→q means p is sufficient for q
p↔q means p is necessary and sufficient for q

Statement Negation
All X are Y . Some X are not Y .
No X are Y . Some X are Y .
Some X are not Y . All X are Y .
Some X are Y . No X are Y .

Example 1. Write the negation of each of the following statements.

a. Some airports are open.
b. All movies are worth the price of admission.
c. No odd numbers are divisible by 2.

Solution: a. No airports are open.

b. Some movies are not worth the price of admission.
c. Some odd numbers are divisible by 2.

Example 2. Write the negation of the following statements.

a. All bears are brown.
b. b. No smartphones are expensive.
c. c. Some vegetables are not green.

Compound Statements and Grouping Symbols

Table 2.9
Symbolic form The parentheses indicate that:
p  q ~ r  q and ~ r are grouped together.

 p  q  r p and q are grouped together.

 p ~ q  r  s p and ~ q are grouped together.

r and s are also grouped together.

If a compound statement is written in symbolic form, then parentheses are used to indicate which
simple statements are grouped together.

Table 2.9 illustrates the use of parentheses to indicate groupings for some statements in symbolic
form.

If a compound statement is written as an English sentence, then a comma is used to indicate

which simple statements are grouped together. Statements on the same side of a comma are
grouped together. See Table 2.10.

Table 2.10
 English sentence The comma indicates that:
p , and q or not r . q and ~ r are grouped together because they are both
on the same side of the comma.
p and q , or r . p and q are grouped together because they are both
on the same side of the comma.
If p and not q , then r or p and ~ q are grouped together because they are both
s. to the left of the comma.
r and s are grouped together because they are both to
the right of the comma.

Activity 2: LS-Translation!

Instruction: Answer the tests by following each of the given instruction. God bless you!

A. Translate each statement into symbolic notation. Let P represent “I like Pepsi” and let C
represent “I like Coke”.

1. I like Pepsi or I like Coke. ______________________

2. I like Pepsi and I like Coke. ______________________
3. I do not like Pepsi. ______________________
4. It is not the case that I like Pepsi or Coke. ________________
5. I like Pepsi and I do not like Coke. ______________________

B. Translate each symbolic notation into a sentence. Let p represents “Today is Monday” and
q represents “The weather is good.”
1. ~ p
2. p  q
3. ~ p   q
4. p  ~ q 
5. ~  p  q 

C. Answer the following questions:

1. From your answers on Test A, what are your observations? How did it help you?
2. From your answers on Test B, what are your observations? How did it help you?

TAUTOLOGIES AND SELF-CONTRADICTION

A tautology is a statement that is always true.

A self-contradiction is a statement that is always false.

Activity 3: Construct Me!

Instruction: Construct a truth table of [(p^q)v~p]→ [(pvq)^~q].
Follow-up questions:
1. What can you say about your final results of the truth table?
2. How will you apply this concept of activity in real-life setting? What is its value to you as a
student?

SYNTHESIS

Instruction: Complete the table below with the desired information. God bless you!
What I Know about this What I want to know about What do I Learned from this
lesson? this lesson? lesson?

ASSESSMENT

Test 1: Level Up!

General Instruction: Answer the following tests. Follow the instructions for each of the given
subtests. God bless you!

Write the following in symbolic form using P, Q, and R for statements and the symbols ⌐, v, ^,
, , where:
P: Pres. Duterte is a good president.
Q: Government officials are corrupt.
R: People are happy.

Write your answer on the space provided.

1. If Pres. Duterte is a good president, then government officials are not corrupt.
_________________________________________________________________
2. If government officials are not corrupt, then the people are happy.
_________________________________________________________________
3. If Pres. Duterte is a good president and people are happy, then government officials are
not corrupt.
_________________________________________________________________
4. Pres. Duterte is not a good president if and only if government officials are corrupt and
the people are not happy.
_________________________________________________________________
5. Pres. Duterte is not a good president or the people are not happy.
_________________________________________________________________

Test II. Complete the truth table below.

Q R Q ⌐R QvR R^Q ⌐R ⌐(QVR) ⌐ (QVR) (⌐R^⌐Q)
T T
T F
F T
F F

Test III – Answer the following questions.

A. Enumerate and define the 3 characteristics of a mathematical language.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
B. Cite an example that shows how mathematics is conventional.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
 C. What is the importance of logical operators or connectives in our daily language?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

D. What do you think is the relationship between propositional logic and mathematical
reasoning?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Note: You may put your answer on the space provided or provide separate sheets for your
answers.

Resources:

Richard T. Earnhart, Edgar M. Adina, Mathematics in the Modern World, 2018

Ethel B.,Carmelita R.,Justina E., Mathematics in the Modern World, 2018

Burns Carol JVF One Mathematical Cat, Please (A First Course in Algebra) [Journal]. -
Massachusetts : [s.n.], 2004.

Orlando O., Marilyn M., E-Math 10 Worktext, 2015

[Journal]. - Clemson University : [s.n.], 2000.

Dana, Charles A. Advanced Mathematical Decision Making. Center at The University of Texas
at Austin, 2010

Harary, Frank. Graph Theory. Addison Wesley, Reading, MA, 1969

Aufmann, Richard, et.al., Mathematical Excursion. Brooks/Cole CENGAGE Learning, 2013

Juan Apolinario C. Reyes, Mathematics in the Modern World, 2018

Winston S. Sirug, Mathematics in the Modern World,2018

Caraga State University -MMW TG, 2019

Rosen, K.H. Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications, 4th ed. Philippine Copyright:
WBC/McGraw-Hills Book, Co., 1999.

Kolman, B. et. al. Discrete Mathematical Structures for Computer Science, 2nd ed. Philippine
Copyright: Prentice-Hall International, Inc., 1987.

Guillermo, Raflyn M. Phd., et al.” Mathematics in the modern world”, Nieme Publishing Co.
LTD.

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