The Essence of Logic

The books in this series provide a concise, practical introduction to the core components of an undergraduate computer science degree. Acknowledging recent changes within Higher Education, this approach uses a variety of pedagogical tools - case studies, worked examples and self-test questions - to underpin the students learning. The text is a concise introduction to formal logic. It makes no excessive demands on previous mathematical knowledge, requiring little maturity in mathematical thinking. The main objective of the book is in preparing the reader for the analysis and application of techniques of logic in computing. Beginning with truth tables, the reader is introduced to the concepts of Boolean algebra and thus logical propositions and truth values. Propositional logic is explored through the use of the methods of semantic tableaux, natural deduction and the sequential calculus.