Having identified statements and primitive statements, the next step is to change or combine statements. The first logical connective is negation, which reverses the truth value of a statement. Negation is also the simplest way to form a compound statement from one given statement. In this lesson, negation and compound statements prepare the notation used throughout truth tables and symbolic logic.

Let $p$ be a statement. The \textbf{negation} of $p$ is the statement that asserts the opposite truth value of $p$. It is denoted by $\neg p$ and is read as not $p$.