Introduction to Probability – 2011/12

Logic and Proof

In this short handout there are a few brief remarks on how to understand
and write proofs. These are based round the discussion in chapter 4 of your
lecture notes but contain more material, You will learn more about different
sorts of proof indirectly by seeing examples as the course progresses.

Any proof should start from what you know and finish with the thing you
are trying to prove. If you are asked, for instance, to prove that some events
A and B are independent then your proof should start with what you know
about the events and finish with the line
“. . . and so P(A ∩ B) = P(A)P(B). That is A and B are independent.”
There are two comments to make here. Firstly, most people use words far
too sparingly. It would be completely correct to start your proof that A and B
are independent with the line “We need to show that P(A∩B) = P(A)P(B).”.
However it would not be correct to start with the line “P(A∩B) = P(A)P(B)”
(this looks as if you are asserting the very thing you are asked to prove). The
words ‘We need to show that...” make all the difference. Similarly, using
phrases such as “Let as assume that ...”, “It follows from this that ...”, “The
previous three equations together imply that....” give your proof a logical
structure. Not using words means your proof will be at best hard to follow
and at worst false.
Secondly, although a proof is written as a progression from what we know
to what we want to know the actual process of discovering the proof may
be a bit less direct. I have tried to convey something of this in lectures and
hopefully your class tutors have done so also. For now just remember that
looking ahead to the thing you are trying to prove and working backwards is
fine as a method of discovering proofs. However when you write your proof
out it should have a direct logical progression from things you know to the
thing you want to prove.

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 If p and q are mathematical statements then the statement

p⇒q

means “’p implies q” or equivalently “if p then q”. This statement is true
unless there is some situation where p is true but q is false. The ⇒ symbol is
much abused so whenever you write p ⇒ q you should read it aloud as “if p
then q” to check it makes sense. Many mathematical statements are of this
form. For instance we proved in lectures (Proposition 2.3i) that if a function
f : A → B with A and B finite is injective then |A| ≤ |B|. You could equally
write this as follows. Suppose that f : A → B with A and B finite. Then f
is injective ⇒ |A| ≤ |B|.
The proof of a statement of the form p ⇒ q should look something like
the following:
Proof. Suppose that p is true we have ......
So .........
Hence q is true.
Where each line follows clearly from the previous ones.
To prove that p does not imply q (that is that p ⇒ q is false) you need
to find a situation where p is true but q is false. For example, the answer to
question 3i on exercise sheet 2 gave a function from N to N which is injective
but not surjective. This provides a proof that if f : N → N then f is injective
does not imply that f is surjective.
Notice that p ⇒ q and q ⇒ p are different statements. It is quite possible
for one to be true and the other to be false. For example x = 2 implies that
x2 = 4 but x2 = 4 does not imply that x = 2 (we could equally well have
x = −2). The statement
p⇔q
means that both p ⇒ q and q ⇒ p. This is usually read as “p if and only if
q” (if and only if is often abbreviated to iff) or “p and q are equivalent”.
To prove that p ⇔ q you need to show that p ⇒ q and q ⇒ p. Sometimes
it is possible to do both of these at once but it is often clearer to show then
separately (see for example the proof that a function has an inverse if and
only if it is bijective – Proposition 2.2).
Another way of showing that p ⇒ q is to show that

not q ⇒ not p.

2
That is “if q is false then p is false”. This statement is called the contrapositive
(think about why it is equivalent to p ⇒ q).
The statement “not p” which appears above is called the negation of p.
Working out the negation of a statement can be slightly subtle so we give a
few examples. Make sure you understand all of these.

• If p is the statement x = 2 then the negation of p is the statement

x 6= 2

• If p is the statement “x = 2 and y = 3” then the negation of p is the

statement “either x 6= 2 or y 6= 3” (where or is being used in its usual
mathematical sense to include both occurring).

• If p is the statement “either x = 2 or y = 3” then the negation of p is

the statement “ x 6= 2 and y 6= 3”.

• If p is the statement “every student at QM is hardworking” the negation

of p is “there exists at least one lazy student at QM”.

• If p is the statement “for all x, y ∈ A with x 6= y we have f (x) 6= f (y)”

then the negation of p is the statement “there exist x, y ∈ A with x 6= y
and “f (x) = f (y)”