Department of Computer Science & Information Systems

1st Sem. 2014-15 CS F214 Logic In Computer Science

Tutorial 1
Topic: Proofs and Reasoning
[Note:
 This is an exercise in learning by thinking.
 Do NOT consult a book or a website or a senior – if you do so, you are not learning :(
 However you are encouraged to consult/discuss/argue with other students in your class.

End of Note.]

Exercise:

Consider the following proofs:

I. Claim: There exists a prime number larger than any given natural number n.
Proof: Consider m = (1*2*...*n)+1. Either m is prime or it is not.
Case m is prime : We are done.
Case m is not prime: m is not divisible by any j, where 1<= j<= n. Therefore m
must have a divisor that is larger than n, and that divisor must be prime.

II. Claim: A prime pair (p1, p2) is defined as a pair of primes p1 and p2 such that p2 = p1 +
2. Consider the largest known prime number, say k. Either there exists a prime pair
(p1,p2) s.t. p1 > k, or not.
Proof: For any statement X, either X is true or not. Therefore the above statement is
true.

and answer the following questions:

(i) What differences do you observe between the two proofs (or between the approaches to
proving the claims)?
(ii) Is there anything missing in either of the proofs? If so, state clearly what is missing and why
that is significant in your view. If not argue that nothing is missing.

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