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230 HW 2

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21 views1 page

230 HW 2

Uploaded by

Anuj Jha
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Math 230 D Fall 2015

Homework 2 Drew Armstrong

Problem 1. Logical Analysis.


(a) Let Q and R be logical statements. Use a truth table to prove that ¬(Q∨R) is logically
equivalent to ¬Q ∧ ¬R. [This is called de Morgan’s law.]
(b) Let P , Q, and R be logical statements. Use a truth table to prove that (Q ∨ R) ⇒ P
is logically equivalent to (Q ⇒ P ) ∧ (R ⇒ P ).
(c) Apply the principles from (a) and (b) to prove that for all integers m and n we have
“mn is even” ⇐⇒ “m is even or n is even”.
[Hint: Let P =“mn is even”, Q =“m is even”, and R =“n is even”. Use part (a) for
the “⇒” direction and use part (b) for the “⇐” direction.]

Problem 2. Absolute Value. Given an integer a we define its absolute value as follows:

a
 if a > 0
|a| := 0 if a = 0

−a if a < 0

Prove that for all integers a and b we have |ab| = |a||b|. [Hint: Your proof will break into at
least five separate cases. You may assume without proof the properties (−a)(−b) = ab and
(−a)b = a(−b) = −(ab); we’ll prove them later.]

Problem 3. Divisibility. Given integers m and n we will write “m|n” to mean that “there
exists an integer k such that n = mk” and when this is the case we will say that “m divides
n” or “n is divisible by m”. Now let a, b, and c be integers. Prove the following properties.
(a) If a|b and b|c then a|c.
(b) If a|b and a|c then a|(bx + cy) for all integers x and y.
(c) If a|b and b|a then a = ±b. [Hint: Use the fact that uv = 0 implies u = 0 or v = 0.]
(d) If a|b and b is nonzero then |a| ≤ |b|. [Hint: Use the result of Problem 2.]

√
Problem 4. The Square Root of 5. Prove that 5 is not a ratio of integers, in two steps.
(a) First prove the following lemma: Let n be an integer. If n2 is divisible by 5, then so
is n. [Hint: Use the contrapositive and note that there are four separate ways for an
integer to be not divisible by 5. Sorry it’s a bit tedious; we will find a better way to
do this later.] √
(b) Use the method of contradiction to prove that 5 is not a ratio of integers. Explicitly
quote your lemma in the√ proof. [Hint: Your proof should begin as follows: “Assume
for contradiction that 5 is a ratio of integers. In this case, . . . ”]

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