MAT 125: DISCRETE MATHEMATICS II LECTURE NOTES
THE CONDITIONAL AND BI-CONDITIONAL
By Dr. Runji Flora
SUMMARY OF LOGICAL EQUIVALENCES
Page 1 of 11
EXAMPLE 2
Use logical equivalences to show that
Solution
CONDITIONAL STATEMENTS
Page 2 of 11
Definition:
Remark:
The Truth Table for the Conditional statement p → q.
The statement p → q is true when both p and q are true
and when p is false (no matter what truth value q has).
Remark:
A conditional statement that is true by virtue of the fact
that its hypothesis is false is often called vacuously true
or true by default.
Page 3 of 11
Example: The statement “If you show up for work Monday
morning, then you will get the job” is vacuously true if
you do not show up for work Monday morning.
In general, when the “if” part of an if-then statement is
false, the statement as a whole is said to be true,
regardless of whether the conclusion is true or
false.
Order of operations
operators such as ∧, ∨, and ∼, the order of operations is
In expressions that include → as well as other logical
specification of order of operations, ∼ is performed first,
that → is performed last. Thus, according to the
then ∧ and ∨, and finally→.
Other terminologies that express conditional statements
The following are different terminologies that are
commonly used in place of " if p then q"
“p implies q”
“if p, q”
“p only if q
“p is sufficient for q”
“a sufficient condition for q is p”
“q if p”
“q whenever p”
“q when p”
“q is necessary for p”
“a necessary condition for p is q”
“q follows from p”
“q unless ¬p”
Page 4 of 11
Representation of Conditional as Disjunction
The conditional “if p then q” is logically equivalent to
That is: p →q ≡ ∼p ∨ q. (verify this with a truth table)
“not p or q”
Example: Rewrite the following statements without using
the conditional:
(a) If it is cold, he wears a hat.
(b) If productivity increases, then wages rise.
“Not p or q;” that is, p → q ≡ ¬p ∨ q.
Recall that “If p then q” is equivalent to
Hence, we have
(a) It is not cold or he wears a hat.
(b) Productivity does not increase or wages rise.
The Negation of a Conditional Statement
The negation of "If p then q" is logically equivalent to
"p and not q."
Example
Page 5 of 11
The Contrapositive of a Conditional Statement
of the form “If p then q” is "If ∼q then ∼p".
Definition: The contrapositive of a conditional statement
Symbolically, The contrapositive of p →q is ∼q →∼p.
A conditional statement is logically equivalent to its
contrapositive.(Verify)
The Converse and inverse of a Conditional Statement
Definition: Suppose a conditional statement of the form
“If p then q” is given:
The inverse is “If ∼p then ∼q.”
The converse is “If q then p.”
Symbolically,
Page 6 of 11
The inverse of p →q is ∼p →∼q.
The converse of p →q is q → p, and
Remark:
i. A conditional statement and its converse are not
logically equivalent.(Verify)
ii) A conditional statement and its inverse are not
logically equivalent.(Verify)
iii) The converse and the inverse of a
conditional statement are logically equivalent
to each other.(Verify)
EXAMPLE
What are the contrapositive, the converse, and the
inverse of the conditional statement: “The home team
wins whenever it is raining?”
Solution:
Because “q whenever p” is one of the ways to express
the conditional statement p → q, the original statement
can be rewritten as
“If it is raining, then the home team wins.”
Consequently, the contrapositive of this conditional
statement is
“If the home team does not win, then it is not raining.”
The converse is
“If the home team wins, then it is raining.”
Page 7 of 11
The inverse is
“If it is not raining, then the home team does not win.”
The biconditional statement
DEFINITION
Let p and q be propositions.
The biconditional statement denoted p ↔ q is the
proposition “p if and only if q.”
The biconditional statement p ↔ q is true when p and q
have the same truth
values, and is false otherwise.
Biconditional statements are also called bi-implications.
There are some other common ways to express p ↔ q:
These include:
“p is necessary and sufficient for q”
“if p then q, and conversely”
“p iff q.”
Truth table for the biconditional statement
Page 8 of 11
In order of operations ↔ is coequal with→. As with ∧ and
∨, the only way to indicate precedence between them is
to use parentheses.
Example:
Page 9 of 11
Converting a Sufficient Condition to If-Then Form
Example:
Rewrite the following statement in the form “If A then B”:
Pia’s birth on Kenyan soil is a sufficient condition for her
to be a Kenyan citizen.
Solution: If Pia was born on Kenyan soil, then she is a
Kenyan citizen.
Converting a Necessary Condition to If-Then Form
Example:
Use the contrapositive to rewrite the following statement
in two ways:
Page 10 of 11
George’s attaining age 35 is a necessary condition for his
being president of the United States.
Solution
Version 1: If George has not attained the age of 35, then
he cannot be president of the United States.
Version 2: If George can be president of the United
States, then he has attained the age of 35.
Prove that the negation of the biconditional “𝑝 if and only
Exercise:
if 𝑞” (~(𝑝↔𝑞)) is equivalent to the exclusive disjunctive
form “Either 𝑝 or 𝑞, but not both” (𝑝⊕𝑞).
Page 11 of 11
