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Rules of Inference

This document discusses rules of inference which are the basic tools for establishing the truth of statements. It defines rules of inference and provides examples of common rules including modus ponens, modus tollens, hypothetical syllogism, disjunctive syllogism, addition, simplification, conjunction and resolution.

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Kaustubh Paul
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13 views15 pages

Rules of Inference

This document discusses rules of inference which are the basic tools for establishing the truth of statements. It defines rules of inference and provides examples of common rules including modus ponens, modus tollens, hypothetical syllogism, disjunctive syllogism, addition, simplification, conjunction and resolution.

Uploaded by

Kaustubh Paul
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Rules of Inference

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Proof:
Proofs in mathematics are valid arguments that establish the truth of
mathematical statements. By an argument, we mean a sequence of
statements that end with a conclusion. By valid, we mean that the
conclusion, or final statement of the argument, must follow from the truth of
the preceding statements, or premises, of the argument.

Rules of inference are the templates for constructing valid arguments.


Rules of inference are our basic tools for establishing the truth of statements.
Rules of inference are the building blocks for constructing valid arguments

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Valid Arguments in Propositional Logic
“If you have a current password, then you can log onto the network.”
“You have a current password.”
Therefore,
“You can log onto the network.”

Use p to represent “You have a current password” and q to represent “You can log onto the
network.” Then, the argument has the form
p→q
p
∴q

We know that when p and q are propositional variables, the statement ((p → q) ∧ p) → q is a
tautology

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• Modus Ponens
If P and P→Q
are two premises, we can use Modus Ponens to derive Q
Example
"If you have a password, then you can log on to Facebook", P→Q
"You have a password", P
Therefore − "You can log on to Facebook"
• Modus Tollens
If P→Q and ¬Q are two premises, we can use Modus Tollens to derive ¬P
.Example

"If you have a password, then you can log on to facebook", P→Q

"You cannot log on to facebook", ¬Q


Therefore − "You do not have a password "
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• Hypothetical Syllogism
If P→Q and Q→R are two premises, we can use Hypothetical Syllogism to derive P→R
Example
"If it rains, I shall not go to school”, P→Q

"If I don't go to school, I won't need to do homework", Q→R


Therefore − "If it rains, I won't need to do homework"

• Disjunctive Syllogism
If ¬P and P∨Q are two premises, we can use Disjunctive Syllogism to derive Q.
Example
"The ice cream is not vanilla flavored", ¬P

"The ice cream is either vanilla flavored or chocolate flavored", P∨Q


Therefore − "The ice cream is chocolate flavored”

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• Addition
If P is a premise, we can use Addition rule to derive P∨Q

Example
Let P be the proposition, “He studies very hard” is true
Therefore − "Either he studies very hard Or he is a very bad student." Here Q is the proposition “he is a very bad
student”.

• Simplification
If P∧Q
is a premise, we can use Simplification rule to derive P.
P∧Q∴P
Example
"He studies very hard and he is the best boy in the class", P∧Q
Therefore − "He studies very hard"
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• Conjunction
If P and Q are two premises, we can use Conjunction rule to derive P∧Q
Example
Let P − “He studies very hard”
Let Q − “He is the best boy in the class”
Therefore − "He studies very hard and he is the best boy in the class"

• Resolution

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