Chapter 2 Mathematical

Language and
Symbols
 TOPICS

 2.1 The Language of Mathematics

 2.2 Expressions vs. Sentences
 2.3 Unary and Binary Operations
 2.4 Some Elementary Logic
 At the end of the chapter, the student is
expected to:

1. discuss the language, symbols and conventions of

mathematics;
2. explain the nature of mathematics as a language;
3. perform operations on mathematical expressions
correctly
4. acknowledge that mathematics is a useful language.
 Importance of language

 Language facilitates communication

and clarifies meaning.
 It allows people to express themselves
and maintains their identity.
 language bridges the gap among people
from varying origins and culture
without prejudice to their background
and upbringing.
Section 2.1 The Language of Mathematics

Characteristics of the Mathematics language

Mathematics language is:
 Precise, it is able to make very fine distinctions or
definitions.
 Concise , if someone can say things in long
expositions or sentences, a mathematician can say it
briefly.
 Powerful i.e., one can express complex thoughts with
relative ease.
 Section 2.2 Expressions vs. Sentences

 A sentence must contain a complete thought.

 A mathematical sentence must state a complete
thought as well.
 An expression is a name given to a mathematical
object of interest.
“1+2” is a mathematical expression but is not a
mathematical sentence.
 Examples of mathematical expressions:

 An ordered pair (a,b)

 1 4
a matrix  
 2 3 
 A function f(x)
 The set {1,3,5}
 Expressions in Mathematics

3
 F(x)
 𝑎2 + 𝑏 2
 3
 The sum of A and B
A+B
 Sentence in Mathematics

 The sum of 2 & 3 is 5

 10 < -15
 2∈ 1, 2, 3
 2 ⊆ 1, 2, 3
 {2} ∈ {1, 2, 3}
 Truth of Sentences

• Mathematical sentences may either be true, false, sometimes true/false

Examples:
1. 𝑥 2 + 2𝑥 = 𝑥 𝑥 + 2
2. 𝑥+2<𝑥−3
3. 𝑓 2 =3
 Mathematics has symbols

 that only those who study it understand these

symbols.
 Some of these symbols are

 , , ,,, , , , , , 
 For example

 “The sum of any two real numbers is also a real

number”.

a, b , a  b 
Meaning of some Mathematical Symbols

 , the sum of
, there exists
, for every or for any

, element of or member of

, not an element of or not a member of

, subset
, if then
More mathematical symbols

 if and only if

 or
 and
 inf inity
N SetofNaturalNumbers
 SetofIntegers
 Setof Re alNumbers
 Truth of Sentences
 Mathematical sentences may either be true, or false.
Example 1
Write as English sentences and say whether they are
true or false.
For any real number x , its square is
a. x , x  0 greater than or equal to 0. TRUE
2

b. x, y , (x + y)2 =x2 + 2xy + y2 . For any two real

numbers x, y , the
c. m, n  Z , m  n  m  n square of their sum
is equal to the sum
d. a, b  Q, ab  0  a  0  b  0 of their squares
plus twice their
There exist integers m, n For all rational numbers a, b, product.
such that m minus n is less if their product is zero then a
than or equal to m plus n. equals 0 and b equals 0.
TRUE FALSE
 Solution

a. For any real number x , its square is greater than or

equal to 0. TRUE
b. For any two real numbers x, y , the square of their
sum is equal to the sum of their squares plus twice
their product. TRUE
c. There exist integers m, n such that m minus n is
less than or equal to m plus n. TRUE
d. For all rational numbers a, b, if their product is
zero then a equals 0 and b equals 0. FALSE
 Mathematics describes

 the real world

 abstract structures
 mathematics is the language of the

 sciences,
 business,
 economics,
 music,
 architecture,
 the arts,
 even politics

Mathematics since is a universal language.

It is the common language of the world.
 The left brain hemisphere is responsible for thinking
in mathematics and the languages.

Is the object If you see it rotating

rotating clockwise then it is
clockwise or your right brain
hemisphere that is
counter
working at the
clockwise?
moment. If counter
clockwise, your left
brain hemisphere is
working at the
moment.
 Example 2

Write as mathematical sentences. Discuss how the

word “is” is used.
a) 10 is the square root of 100.
b) 10 is greater than 9.
c) 10 is an even number.
d) 10 is a multiple of 5.
 Solution

 a) 100  10
 b) 10>9
 c) 10 ε {2n, n ε N }
 d) 10 ε { 5n, n ε N}

The word “is” may mean equality, inequality,

or membership in a set.
 Remarks

Numbers may be used as

 cardinal numbers (used for counting)
 ordinal number (shows order)
 nominal number (used as name)
Examples of nominal numbers are:
The number at the back of the Michael Jordan is “23”.
The postal zip code of Marilao is 3019.
The name of the shop is “680”
 Section 2.3 Unary and Binary Operations

 The plus sign between 2 and 3 is addition in 2+3=5 is

a binary operation.
 A unary operation accepts only one value or
operand.
 The plus and the minus signs before a number may
not mean addition or subtraction. It is read as
positive and negative signs. When written this way
they are called unary operations.
 Examples of Unary operations

 -5
 Sin x
 Cos 450
 Tan π/3
 Binary operations

 Take two real numbers perform an operation on

them and produce another real number. Here you
are performing binary operation on the two
numbers.
 If we let multiplication (X) denote a binary
operation, then 4 X 6 = 24 is a real number.
 Examples of Binary operations

Addition (e.g. 4 + 5 = 9).

Subtraction (e.g. 10 – 8 = 2).
Multiplication (e.g. 2*5=15)
Division (e.g. 10/5=2)
 Properties of Binary Operation: Addition and
Multiplication

1. Closure of Binary Operations

The product and the sum of any two real numbers is also a
real number. i.e.
∀x,y ∈R , x+y ∈R
∀ x,y ∈R , x●y ∈R
ii. Commutativity of Binary Operations
∀ x,y ∈R , x+y=y+x (addition)
∀ x,y ∈R , x●y=y●x (multiplication).
iii. Associativity of Binary Operations
∀x,y,z∈R , (x+y)+z=x+(y+z) Addition
∀x,y,z∈R, (x●y)●z=x●(y●z) Multiplication
 Properties of Binary Operations: Addition and
Multiplication

iv. Distributivity of Binary Operations

∀ x,y,z ∈R , z(x+y)=zx+zy
v. Identity Elements of Binary Operations
∀x∈R , x+0=0+x=x. For example, 5+ 0=0+5=5.
The identity for addition is 0.
∀x∈R, x●1=1●x=x for any real number x. For example,
4●1=4 and 1●4=4. The identity for multiplication is 1.
vi. Inverses of Binary Operations
∀x∈R, x + (-x)=-x+x =0 (for addition, inverse of any x
is -x).
∀x∈R, x●(1/x)=(1/x)●x=1 (for multiplication, inverse of
any x is 1/x, x≠0)
 Section 2.4 Some Fundamentals of Logic

 Logic determines the validity of arguments in and

out of mathematics.
 Logic illustrates the importance of precision and
conciseness of the language of mathematics.
Propositions
 A proposition is a statement which is either true (T)
or false (F).
 Example 1

 Can you tell which are true, and which are false in
the following statements? If it is false, state why?
a. 9 is a prime number.
b. 5 + 3 = 8
c. x 2  y 2  0
d. 10< - 3
 Answers

a. False. Prime numbers have no other factors than

1 and itself. 9 can be expressed as 3●3.
b. True.
c. True
d. False. A negative number is always less than a
positive number.
 The Truth Table

 A truth table is a table that shows the truth value of a

compound statement for all possible truth values of
its simple statements
 Negation

 A statement is a negation of another if the word not

is introduced in the negative statement.
 Let P be a proposition. The negation of P is “not P”
or  P.
 The following is its truth table.
Truth Table

P P
T F
F T
 Example 2

What is the negation of the following statements?

 P: √2 is a rational number.
 R: 6 is an odd number.
 Solution

a. 2 is not a rational number or 2 is irrational. In

symbols, P
b. 6 is not an odd number or 6 is an even number. In
symbols, R
 Logical Connectives

 Let P and Q be propositions.

 Most common conjunctions in mathematics are “or “
and “and”, which are denoted by  and  ,
respectively.
 If two statements are joined by “and” like “P and Q”,
then it is a statement that is true if and only if both P
and Q are true.
 If two statements are joined with “or” like “P or Q”,
then it is a statement that is true if and only if P is
true or Q is true, or any one of P or Q is true.
 Logical Connectives

P Q PΛQ PνQ
F F F F
F T F T
T F F T
T T T T
 Implications

 Suppose P and Q are propositions. The proposition P

implies Q (If P then Q) is called an implication. P 
Q
 P is called the premise and Q is called the conclusion.
Other ways of writing this are:
 P implies Q
 Q if P
 Q is implied by P
 Q only if P
 Implications

P Q PQ
F F T
F T T
T F F
T T T
 Example 3

 Write the following in symbolic form using P, Q, and R

for statements and the symbols where
P: DU30 is a good president.
Q: Government officials are corrupt.
R: People are happy.
a) If DU30 is a good president then government officials
are not corrupt.
b) If government officials are not corrupt then the people
are happy.
c) If DU30 is a good president and people are happy then
government officials are not corrupt.
d) DU30 is not a good president if and only if government
officials are corrupt and the people are not happy.
 Answers

a. P  Q

b. Q  R

c. P  R  Q

d. P  (Q  R )
 Converse, Inverse, Contrapositive

 Suppose P and Q are propositions.

 Given the implication. P Q
 The converse is QP
 Its inverse is P  Q
 Its contrapositive is Q  P
 In words

Given: If P then Q.
Inverse: If not P then not Q.
Converse: If Q then P.
Contrapositive: If not Q then not P.
truth table of implication statement

P Q P  Q
F F T
F T T
T F F
T T T
 inverse converse contrapositive
P   Q Q  P Q  P
T T T
F F T
T T F
T T T
 Example 4

Give the inverse, converse , and contrapositive of the

following implications.
a. If this movie is interesting, then I am watching it.
b. If p is prime then it is odd.
 Answers

a . Inverse: If this movie is not interesting then I am

not watching it.
Converse: If I am watching this movie then it is
interesting.
Contrapositive: If I am not watching this movie then
it is not interesting.
b. Inverse: If p is not prime then it is not odd.
Converse: If p is odd then it is prime.
Contrapositive: If p is not odd then it is not prime.
 Biconditional

 Given the propositions P and Q. The statement

 P  Q, also read P if and only if Q is called
biconditional.
 It is equivalent to (P  Q) Λ (Q P)
 Example 5

 Indicate what propositions P, Q, or R might stand for

then express the statement using the correct symbols
( ).
 Statement : A function f has an inverse if and only if
f is one-to-one and onto.
 Answers

Let P: A function f has an inverse.

Q: f is one-to-one.
R: f is onto.
Then using the mathematical symbols, the statement
is equivalent to
 P  (Q  R)  (Q  R)  P 
Equivalent to P  (Q  R )
 Quantifiers

Quantifiers are used to describe the variable/s in a

statement.
Types:
1. Universal quantifier which means “for all”, “for
every” denoted by 
2. Existential quantifiers are “there exists”, “for some”,
denoted by .
 Compound Quantifiers

 In using more than one quantifiers that are the same,

the order in which these quantifiers appear does not
matter.
 But in using mixed quantifiers, the order in which
these quantifiers appear is important.
 Example 6

Write as an English sentence and determine if it is true

or false.

a.  x , y , x  y  10
b. x    , y  , y 2  x

c. x   , y  , y  x
2
 Answers

For every real number x, there exists a real number y

such that the sum of x and y is equal to 10. TRUE
For every positive integer x, there exists a real number
y such that the square of y is equal to x. TRUE
There exists a positive integer x such that for all real
number y, the square of y is equal to x. FALSE
 Exercises
Given the propositions
P: The sun is shining.
Q: It is raining.
R: The ground is wet.

a)Write in symbolic form the statement

“ The ground is not wet if and only if the sun is
shining.
b) Write the inverse, converse, and
contrapositive of the implication Q  R in
both symbolic and English sentence form.
 QUIZ
 IDENTIFICATION
1. Who discovered the Fibonacci numbers?
2. It is a ratio that is approx. equal to 1.6180339..
3. Give 5 examples of different unary operations and 5
example of binary operations.
4. Give 5 examples of Mathematical expressions.
5. Give 5 example of English(Mathematical) sentences.
Translate in symbol and determine if TRUE or FALSE.
 Write as an English sentence