DISCRETE MATHEMATICS-1 (ITT 102)

Unit - 2: Fundamentals of Logic

Self-Assessment

1. Which of these sentences are propositions?

a. Miami is the capital of Florida.
b. 2 + 3 = 5.
c. x + 2 = 11.
d. What time is it?

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

a. Steve has more than 100 GB free disk space on his laptop.
b. 7 · 11 · 13 = 999.

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. p↔q
f. ￢p →￢q
g. ￢p ∧￢q
h. ￢p ∨ (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. It is either snowing or below freezing (or both).
e. If it is below freezing, it is also snowing.
f. Either it is below freezing or it is snowing, but it is not snowing if it is below freezing.
g. That it is below freezing is necessary and sufficient for it to be snowing.

5. Let p, q, and r be the propositions

p :You get an A on the final exam.
q :You do every exercise in this book.
r :You get an A in this class.
Write each of these statements in the form “if p, then q” in English.

a. It is necessary to wash the boss’s car to get promoted.

b. Winds from the south imply a spring thaw.
c. You can access the website only if you pay a subscription fee.

6. Construct a truth table for each of these compound propositions.

a. (p ∨￢q) → q
b. ￢p ∨ (p ∧ q)
c. (p → q) ↔ (￢q →￢p)

7. Show that each of these conditional statements is a tautology by using truth tables.
a. [p ∧ (p → q)] → q
b. [(p ∨ q) ∧ (p → r) ∧ (q → r)] → r

8. Let C(x) be the statement “x has a cat,” let D(x) be the statement “x has a dog,” and let F(x) be the
statement “x has a ferret.” Express each of these statements in terms of C(x), D(x), F(x), quantifiers,
and logical connectives. Let the domain consist of all students in your class.
a. A student in your class has a cat, a dog, and a ferret.
b. All students in your class have a cat, a dog, or a ferret.
c. Some student in your class has a cat and a ferret, but not a dog.
d. No student in your class has a cat, a dog, and a ferret.
e. For each of the three animals, cats, dogs, and ferrets, there is a student in your class who has
this animal as a pet.
9. What rule of inference is used in each of these arguments?
a. Kangaroos live inAustralia and are marsupials. Therefore, kangaroos are marsupials.
b. It is either hotter than 100 degrees today or the pollution is dangerous. It is less than 100 degrees
outside today. Therefore, the pollution is dangerous.
c. Linda is an excellent swimmer. If Linda is an excellent swimmer, then she canwork as a lifeguard.
Therefore, Linda can work as a lifeguard.
d. Steve will work at a computer company this summer. Therefore, this summer Steve will work at a
computer company or he will be a beach bum.

10. Determine whether these are valid arguments.

If x is a positive real number, then x2 is a positive real number. Therefore, if a2 is positive, where
a is a real number, then a is a positive real number.