1. Logic 2 The conditional and biconditional

2. The Conditional
Consider two statements, p and q.
If p being true always leads to q being true, we have a conditional relationship
“if p is true then q is true”, “if p then q”, “p q”. See Waner and Conenoble for other equivalent phrases.
These all say the same thing, and have the following truth table:
P is the antecedent of hypothesis, q is the consequent or conclusion.

3. Rules of the conditional
The only way p q is false is if p is true and q is false. Called a “broken promise.”
If p and q are both false, p q is true.
p q is true when p is false, no matter what the truth value of q.
True always implies true. If p and q are both true, then pq is true.
True can’t imply false. If p is true and q is false then pq is false.
False implies anything. If p is false, then pq is true no matter if q is true or not.

4. The “switcheroo” law Show that p q  (p)q
This is often important for proofs.
This implies that p q is true if either p is false or if q is true. Using DeMorgan’s Law, this also means that p q  (p(q))

5. Important equivalencies of p q
if p then q is the same as p implies q
q follows from p is the same as not p unless q
q if p is the same as p only if q
whenever p, q is the same as q whenever p
p is sufficient for q is the same as q is necessary for p
Notice how p being a sufficient condition for q makes q a necessary condition for p.

6. Exercise: Show that the commutative law does not hold for the conditional, that is that p q is not equivalent to q p using a truth table. The statement p q is called the converse of q p, and q p is the converse of p q. They are not equivalent.

7. Exercises Give an example where the converse of a conditional is not true. (Think advertising). Give an example when the converse of a conditional is true.

8. Contrapositive The contrapositive of p q is (q) (p) Exercise 1: Use truth tables to show a statement and its contrapositive are equivalent. Exercise 2: Use switcheroo and other properties to show a statement and its contrapositive are equivalent. p q  (p)q  q(p)  (q)(p)  (q) (p) switcheroo; commutative; double neg; switcheroo

9. Exercise 3: Give the converse and contrapositive of the statement If you study hard you will get a good grade. Explain how the contrapositive can be interpreted as true, but not necessarily the converse. Converse: If you get a good grade you studied hard. Contrapositive: If you don’t get a good grade, you did not study hard.

10. Biconditional The biconditional, written pq, is defined to be the statement (p q)(q p). With the true table Exercise: Use truth tables to show that pq (p q)(q p).

11. Common phrasings for the biconditional
p if and only if q
p is necessary and equivalent for q
p is equivalent to q