Poretsky's Law

The theorem in set theory and logic that for all sets
and
,
 |
(1)
|
where
denotes complement set of
and
is the empty set. The set
is depicted in the above Venn diagram and clearly coincides with
iff
is empty.
The corresponding theorem in a Boolean algebra
states that for all elements
of
,
 |
(2)
|
The version of Poretsky's Law for logic can be derived from (2) using the rules of propositional calculus, namely for all propositions
and
,
![Q is equivalent to [(P and not Q) or (not P and Q)] iff P is false,](https://mathworld.wolfram.com/images/equations/PoretskysLaw/NumberedEquation3.svg) |
(3)
|
where "is equivalent to" means having the same truth table. In fact, in the following table, the values in the second and in the third column coincide if and only if the value in the first column is 0.
 |
 |
( and not ) or (not and ) |
| 0 |
0 |
0 |
| 0 |
1 |
1 |
| 1 |
0 |
1 |
| 1 |
1 |
0 |
REFERENCES
Hall, F. M. An Introduction to Abstract Algebra, Vol. 1, 2nd ed. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, p. 50, 1972.
Hall, F. M. An Introduction to Abstract Algebra, Vol. 2, 2nd ed. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, p. 348, 1972.