Scribd
Upload
16 views4 pages

Worksheet #2

Uploaded by

Phung Vuong
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
16 views4 pages

Worksheet #2

Uploaded by

Phung Vuong
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Math 215 Worksheet 2: Logical operations

1. Paula has baseball practice every Friday and Saturday, so her statement “I play baseball ev-
ery Friday” is true. Rephrase this as a conditional statement. State the converse and the
contrapositive, and find their truth values.

Solution: “If today is Friday, then I play baseball.” The converse is “If I play baseball,
then today is Friday,” which is false since Paula also plays on Saturday. The contrapositive
is “If I don’t play baseball today, then today isn’t Friday,” which is true; the contrapositive
is logically equivalent to the original statement so it has the same truth value.

2. Let A represent “6 is an even integer” and B represents “4 divides 6.” Express each of the
following compound propositions in an ordinary English sentence, and then determine its truth
value.

(a) A ∧ B
(b) A ∨ B
(c) ¬A
(d) ¬B
(e) ¬(A ∧ B)
(f) ¬(A ∨ B)
(g) A ⇒ B

Solution: Notice that A is true and B is false. Translating each statement to English
gives

(a) “6 is an even integer and 4 divides 6,” which is false,


(b) “6 is an even integer or 4 divides 6,” which is true,
(c) “6 is not an even integer” or “6 is an odd integer” which is false,
(d) “4 does not divide 6” which is true,
(e) By de Morgan’s laws, this is equivalent to (¬A) ∨ (¬B), which in English is “6 is an
odd integer or 4 doesn’t divide 6” (true),
(f) Again by de Morgan this is equivalent to (¬A) ∧ (¬B), which means “6 is an odd
integer and 4 doesn’t divide 6” (false),

1
(g) “If 6 is an even integer, then 4 divides 6,” a conditional statement with a true hy-
pothesis but a false conclusion, which is false.

3. Find an example of a true conditional proposition whose converse is false.

Solution: “If n and m are even numbers, then n + m is even.” In the first worksheet, we
conjectured that this is true, after trying several cases. It is in fact true (we’ll prove it
next week sometime), so for now let’s accept that it is. The converse is “If n + m is even,
then n and m are even.” This is demonstrably false; 1 + 1 = 2 is even, but 1 is not even.

4. Prove de Morgan’s first law ¬(A ∧ B) ≡ (¬A) ∨ (¬B) using a truth table.

Solution: To avoid parsing a giant truth table, let’s use two: one for ¬(A ∧ B) and the
other for (¬A) ∨ (¬B). For the first, we have

A B A ∧ B ¬(A ∧ B)
T T T F
T F F T
F T F T
F F F T

and for the second,


A B ¬A ¬B (¬A) ∨ (¬B)
T T F F F
T F F T T
F T T F T
F F T T T
Since the column for ¬(A∧B) and (¬A)∨(¬B) are the same, these statements are logically
equivalent. Notice that when splitting into two truth tables, it’s essential that the first
two columns (the possible T/F combinations of A and B) are the same in both.

5. Consider the statement “every even number is divisible by 4.”

(a) Write this as quantified statement, and find its truth value.
(b) Formally negate the quantified statement, translate it back to English, and find its truth
value.

Page 2
Solution:

(a) We can write this logically as

∀n even (n is divisible by 4).

This is false; for instance 2 is an even number that is not divisible by 4.


(b) The negation of ∀n P (n) is ∃n ¬P (n); in our case,

∃n even (n is not divisible by 4).

In English, “there exists an even number not divisible by 4,” such as 2 or 6 for
example, which is true.

6. Consider the statement “if x = 3, then x(x − 1) = 6.”

(a) Determine its truth value.


(b) Find the converse and its truth value.
(c) Find the contrapositive and its truth value.
(d) Negate the statement, and find its truth value (recall that the negation of A ⇒ B is
A ∧ ¬B).

Solution:

(a) This is true since 3(2) = 6.


(b) The converse is “if x(x − 1) = 6 then x = 3.” This is false since x(x − 1) = 6 is a
quadratic equation with two solutions (x = −2 is another).
(c) The contrapositive is “if x(x − 1) ̸= 6 then x ̸= 3” which is true.
(d) The negation is “x = 3 and x(x − 1) ̸= 6” which is false.

7. Use a truth table to determine if (A ∧ B) ∧ (B ⇒ ¬A) is a tautology, a contradiction, or neither.

Solution: Let’s fill in the truth table, building up each part of the statement slowly.

A B A ∧ B ¬B A ⇒ ¬B (A ∧ B) ∧ (A ⇒ ¬B)
T T T F F F
T F F T T F
F T F F T F
F F F T T F

Page 3
Since the statement is false for each T/F combination of A and B, it is a contradiction.

Page 4

You might also like