Mathematical logic studies valid reasoning using precise mathematical symbols in place of ordinary language, so that whether an argument is correct can be checked mechanically rather than by intuition -- the same idea that lets a computer verify a program or an electrical circuit designed from 0s and 1s.
Statement (proposition). Definition 12.7: a declarative sentence that is either true or false, but never both, is called a statement or proposition. Imperative ("Give me that book"), exclamatory ("How beautiful!"), and interrogative ("Where are you going?") sentences are never propositions. An open sentence, such as "x×7=35" or "He is a bad person", has a truth value that varies with an unstated condition (the value of x, or opinion) -- it only becomes a genuine proposition once that condition is pinned down (e.g. by a universal quantifier over a fixed domain). The truth value of a statement is T (or 1) if true, F (or 0) if false.
Simple vs compound statements. A statement that cannot be split into smaller statements is a simple (atomic) statement; one built by joining two or more simple statements with a connective is a compound (molecular) statement. Simple statements are named with propositional variables p,q,r,…
Logical connectives join simple statements into compound ones. The five basic connectives, with their truth tables:
- Negation, ¬p ("not p"): flips the truth value -- ¬p is T exactly when p is F.
- Conjunction, p∧q ("p and q"): T only when both p and q are T.
- Disjunction, p∨q ("p or q"): F only when both p and q are F (otherwise T) -- this is the inclusive or.
- Conditional, p→q ("if p then q", p = antecedent/hypothesis, q = consequent/conclusion): F only when p is T and q is F; otherwise T. In particular a conditional with a false hypothesis is automatically T (vacuous truth), and p→q is judged purely by the symbols, never by whether p and q are related in meaning. …