Logic and problem solving Tutorial: Week 1

Islington College, Kathmandu

Module Code MA4001: Logic and problem solving
Tutorial: Week 1

1. Which of these sentences are propositions? What are the truth values of those that are
propositions?
a) Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal.
b) Patna is the capital of India.
c) 2 + 3 = 5.
d) 5 + 7 = 10.
e) x + 2 = 11
f) Do not pass go.
g) What time is it?

2. What is the negation of each of these propositions?

a) Mei has an MP3 player.
b) There is no pollution in New Jersey.
c) 2 + 1 = 3.
d) Jennifer and Teja are friends.
e) There are 13 items in a baker’s dozen.
f) Abby sent more than 100 text messages every day.
g) 121 is a perfect square.

3. Let p and q be the propositions

p : I bought a lottery ticket this week.
q : I won the million dollar jackpot.
Express each of these propositions as an English sentence.
a) ￢p b) p ∨ q c) p → q d) p ∧ q e) q ↔ p f) ￢p →￢q
g) ￢p ∧￢q

4. Let p and q be the propositions

p : It is below freezing. q : It is snowing.

Write these propositions using p and q and logical connectives (including negations).
a) It is below freezing and snowing.
b) It is below freezing but not snowing.
c) It is not below freezing and it is not snowing.
d) If it is below freezing then it is also snowing.

Also, state the truth values of each assuming p is true (T) and q is false (F).

5. What are the different types of connectives? Write with symbols.

6. Given that propositions p, q and r have truth values T, F, T respectively, find the truth
values of
a) p  (q  r) b) (p  q)  r c) ¬ p  q d) ¬(p  q)

7. What is the truth value of each of the following propositions?

a) 4 is even and 5 is even. b) 6 is even or 9 is even. c) 8 is even or 5 is odd.
Logic and problem solving Tutorial: Week 1

d) 2 is not even or 8 is even.

8. Calculate the truth values of the following propositions:

a.   (true  false) b. true  (p false) c. [(p  false)]  true
d. (false p)  q e. p  (false  q)

9. Calculate the truth value for the following propositions:

a. (1<0) (3>2) b. (1+1= 2)  (2<1) c. (0<1)  (1<2)

10. How many rows appear in a truth table for each of these compound propositions?
a) p →￢p
b) ￢p ∧ (p ∨￢r)
c) (p ∨￢r) ∧ (q ∨￢s)

11. Write out the truth table for the following:

a. p  q b. ¬ (p  q)
c. (p  q)  (pq) d. (p  q)  (p  q)
e. [(p  ¬q)  ¬p]  q f. [p  (¬p  q)]  (¬p  ¬q)

12. Define Proposition with two suitable examples.

13. What types of sentences are not considered as valid propositions? Write two examples.

14. What do you mean by compound proposition? Write two examples.

Additional Questions:

1. Construct the truth table of the following compound propositions:

a) (p ∨￢q) ∧ (q ∨￢p)
b) (r ∨￢p) ∨ (p ∨ q ∨ r)
c) (￢p ∨￢q ∨￢r)
d) ￢p ∧ (p ∨￢r)
e) ￢￢ [(p ∨￢q) ∧ ( p ∨ q) ]
f) ¬ (p  q) ∨  (p  q)
g) [p  (¬p  q)]  (¬p  ¬q)

2. Construct the truth table for: (pq) and (p q) and comment your answer.

3. Explain, without using a truth table, why (p ∨￢q) ∧ (q ∨￢r) ∧ (r ∨￢p) is true when p, q, and
r have the same truth value and it is false otherwise.

4. Let p and q denote respectively the propositions

Logic and problem solving Tutorial: Week 1

p: ‘it will be snowing’ and

q: ‘I will go skiing’.
Write down English sentences corresponding to the following propositions:
¬ p q, p  ¬ q, p∨¬q

5. Let p and q denote respectively the propositions.

p : Tolstoy wrote “War and Peace” and
q : Tolstoy wrote “The Brothers Karamazov”
Give a simple English sentence for each of the propositions:
p  q, p  q , ¬ p , q  ¬ p , p  ¬ q.
Also, state the truth values of each assuming p is true and q false.

End of Tutorial