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Then if is true, that rules out the first disjunct, so we have . In short, P → Q {\displaystyle P\to Q} . [ 3 ] However, if P {\displaystyle P} is false, then this entailment fails, because the first disjunct ¬ P {\displaystyle \neg P} is true, which puts no constraint on the second disjunct Q {\displaystyle Q} .
Modus tollens is a mixed hypothetical syllogism that takes the form of "If P, then Q. Not Q. Therefore, not P." It is an application of the general truth that if a statement is true, then so is its contrapositive. The form shows that inference from P implies Q to the negation of Q implies the negation of P is a valid argument.
For example, even though material conditionals with false antecedents are vacuously true, the natural language statement "If 8 is odd, then 3 is prime" is typically judged false. Similarly, any material conditional with a true consequent is itself true, but speakers typically reject sentences such as "If I have a penny in my pocket, then Paris ...
The proposition to be proved is P. We assume P to be false, i.e., we assume ¬P. It is then shown that ¬P implies falsehood. This is typically accomplished by deriving two mutually contradictory assertions, Q and ¬Q, and appealing to the law of noncontradiction. Since assuming P to be false leads to a contradiction, it is concluded that P is ...
The most thoroughly researched branch of propositional logic is classical truth-functional propositional logic, [1] in which formulas are interpreted as having precisely one of two possible truth values, the truth value of true or the truth value of false. [16]
The Curry–Howard correspondence between proofs and programs relates modus ponens to function application: if f is a function of type P → Q and x is of type P, then f x is of type Q. In artificial intelligence, modus ponens is often called forward chaining.
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Example. In a given propositional logic, a formula can be defined as follows: Every propositional variable is a formula. Given a formula X, the negation ¬X is a formula. Given two formulas X and Y, and a binary connective b (such as the logical conjunction ∧), the expression (X b Y) is a formula. (Note the parentheses.)