Chapter 2

Methods of Proof and Disproof

Statements and Open Sentences, Truth Sets

A statement is a sentence which is either true or false.

The truth value of a statement is either true (T) or false (F), according to whether the statement is true or false.
Examples:
1. MSU is a Philippine government school.
2.
3. Any high school graduate can study in MSU.
The first two examples is true but the third example is false because only high school graduates who pass the MSU-SASE
(entrance exam) can study in MSU.

An open sentence is a sentence involving one or more variables which becomes a statement when the variables are assigned specific
values. We denote as open sentences involving the variable x; as open sentences
involving the variable x and y.
Examples:
1.
2. is a positive integer such that
3.
4.
In example 1, if we let , we have , which is false. If , we have , this is true. In example
4, the open sentence is true when and , and it is false when and .

The truth set or solution set of an open sentence is the set of all replacements for x that will make true. The truth set of
will be denoted by the letters respectively.

Remark: The truth set of is the empty set Ø whenever is false for all x in the universal set U, and the truth set is U
whenever is true for all x in U.
Example: The following table shows some open sentences and their truth sets.

Open Sentence Truth Set

Such that

Two open sentences and are said to be equivalent, denoted by , whenever their truth sets are identical. That is
whenever .
Example 1. The open sentences and are equivalent since .
Example 2. Determine if the open sentences and are equivalent.

Two types of quantifiers:

1. Universal quantifiers, denoted by (to be read as “for every x”, “for each x”, or “every x”).
2. Existential quantifiers, denoted by (to be read as “there is an x”, “for some x”, “there exists an x (such that)”, “for at
least one x”).

A sentence of the form is called a universal statement, and asserts that is true for every x in the universal set
U. (denoted in shorter way as ).
A sentence of the form is called an existential statement, and asserts that is true for at least one value for x in
the universal set U. (denoted in shorter way as ).
is true statement whenever .
is false statement whenever .
is true statement whenever where and .
is false statement whenever where and .
is true statement whenever Ø.
is false statement whenever Ø.
is true statement whenever Ø.
is false statement whenever Ø.
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Example: Determine the truth value of each of the following statement:
1. is less than 10.
2. is odd.
3. .
4. is even.
5. .
6. is prime.

Solution: We will determine the truth value by finding the truth set of each sentence.
1. In this problem , is less than 10. Since , the universal statement is true.
2. , is odd. When , which is an even integer. Thus is false
when , which means . Therefore the universal statement is false.

Building Sentences: Negations, Conjunctions and Disjunctions

Negation
The negation of an open sentence , denoted by ~ (to be read “not ”), asserts that is false. Thus, for a specific value
of x,
If is true, then ~ is false.
If is false, then ~ is true.

Summary:
~
T F
F T

Since the truth set of is P, then the truth set of ~ is P’, the complement of the truth set of P, which is defined by
.
Example: Give the negation of each of the following open sentences. Then find the truth set of the negation.
1. Let and is even.
Answer: ~ is odd. Since ,
2. Given and is positive.
Answer: ~ is negative or zero. Since , Ø.

Negation of Statement Involving Quantifiers:

Summary:

Statement Negation
: ~
: ~
Example: State the negation of the following statement, and determine the truth value of each negation.
1. is an odd integer.
Answer:
Negation: is an even integer.
Truth Value: The negation is true since when , which is even.
2.
Answer:
Negation:
Truth value: The negation is false since when and , which is false.

Conjunctions and Disjunctions

Let and be open sentences. The conjunction of and , denoted by ( to be read as “ and
”), asserts that is true and is true. That is the conjunction is true statement whenever both and are true.

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Therefore, is a true statement whenever , where P and Q are truth sets of and respectively. The truth
set of the conjunction is .
The disjunction of and , denoted by (to be read as “ or ”), asserts that either or is true,
or both and are true. That is, is a true statement whenever , where P and Q are truth sets of and
respectively. The truth set of the disjunction is .
Summary:
Statement Truth Set Negation Truth Set of the Negation
~ ~
~ ~

Example1: Given that , state the conjunction and disjunction of and . Then
find the truth set of each of the conjunction and the disjunction.
Solution:
Conjunction: and
Disjunction: or
The truth set of is and the truth set of is .
Thus, the truth set of the conjunction is and
The truth set of the disjunction is .
Example 2. Write the negation of the given sentence. Then find the truth set of the negation given that
.
a. and
b. or is less than 5.
Solution:
a. The negation is the disjunction:
or . The truth set of is and the truth set of
is . Thus the truth set of the negation is
.

b. Exercise!

Conditionals

A conditional or implication statement is a sentences of the form

For all x: If , then
or in symbolic notation (to be read “ implies ”), where is called the condition or hypothesis and is
the conclusion.
Examples:
1. For all integers: If x is odd, then is odd.
2. For all integers x: , then .
3. For all integers x: If x is an odd integer, then is even.
4. For all integers x: If , then

The conditional (or simply ) is true if and only if where P and Q are truth sets of and
respectively.

Examples: Determine the truth values of the following conditionals.

1. For all integers x: If , then .
2. For all : If , then x is positive.
3. For all integers x: , then .

Solution:
1.
. Since , then the conditional is true.
2. Ø
. Since , then the conditional is true.
3.
. Since , then the conditional is false.
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Truth table for conditionals:

T T T
T F F
F T T
F F T

Derived Conditionals

Truth Sets
Given Conditional:
Converse:
Inverse: ~ ~
Contrapositive: ~ ~

Remark:
(1) A conditional is equivalent to its contrapositive, and
(2) The converse is equivalent to the inverse.
Example 1: State the converse, inverse and contrapositive of the conditional
“For all x: If x is odd, then is even”.
Solution:
Converse: For all x: If is even, then x is odd
Inverse: For all x: If x is even, then is odd
Contrapositive: For all x: If is odd, then x is even
Example 2: State the converse, inverse and contrapositive of the given conditional, and determine their truth values.
a. For all integers x: : If , then given that
b. For all : If , then .
c. For all : If , then .

Remark: When and are equivalent (that is ), a given conditional , its converse, inverse and
contrapositive are all equivalent statements, and are all true.

Biconditional
A biconditional or a double implication statement is a sentence of the form (to be read “ if and only if
”). Essentially a biconditional asserts that and are equivalent.

Some Methods of Proofs and Disproof

We illustrate some typical proof methods below. For this we will use the following two definitions:
Definition 1: An integer n is even if it can be written as for some integer a.
Definition 2. An integer n is odd if it can be written as for some integer a.

A proof is a procedure for showing that a statement is true; while disproof is a procedure for showing that a statement is false.

Theorem (Transitive Property of Conditionals)

If and , then .

Methods of Proof

A. Direct Proof – we show that a conditional is true given that several conditionals are true.
– is based on transitive property of conditionals.
–whenever necessary a given conditional may be substituted by its contrapositive so that the transitive property may
be applied.
Flow of the proof: (Show that if , then )
1. If
2. If
3. If
By transitivity of conditionals (1), (2) and (3) imply that .

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Example 1. Prove: If x is odd, then is odd.
Proof:
(1) If x is odd , where a is an integer.
(2) If

(3) If is odd
By transitivity of conditionals (1), (2) and (3) imply that, if x is odd, then is odd.

Example 2. Prove: If x is even, then is even.

Proof:
(1) If x is even , where a is an integer.
(2) If

(3) If is even.
By transitivity of conditionals (1), (2) and (3) imply that, if x is even, then is even.

Example 3. Prove: If is even, then x is even.

Proof:
We will use the contrapositive of the given statement.
Contrapositive: If x is odd, then is odd.
(1) If x is odd , where a is an integer.
(2) If

(3) If is odd
By transitivity of conditionals (1), (2) and (3) imply that, if x is odd, then is odd.
Since the conditional is equivalent to its contrapositive, we conclude that if is even, then x is even.

B. Indirect Proof
Recall that a conditional (or simply ) is a statement which is either true or false. That is if the
conditional is not false, then it is true.
In indirect proof we assume that the conditional to be proved, , is false, and proceeds as in direct proof until a
contradiction is reached. Since contradictions do not occur in valid reasoning, a mistake must have been committed in the assumption
that is false. Thus must be true.
Example 1. Prove: If x is odd, then is odd. (Use Indirect Proof)

Proof: (by indirect proof)

Suppose that there is an odd integer x so that is even.
x is odd , where a is an integer.

is odd
This contradicts the assumption that is even. Therefore, the assumption is incorrect, so if x is odd, then is odd.

Example 2. Prove: is irrational. (Use Indirect Proof)

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Proof: (by indirect proof)
Suppose that is rational. Then by definition, where a and b are integers, and is in lowest term.

Squaring both sides of the equation, we have , or equivalently , where is an integer. Note that 2 is a factor of

, hence is divisible by 2. This implies that a is divisible by 2. Let , where m is an integer and replace a with 2m in
the equation . We get . Thus . This means that is divisible by 2,

thus b is divisible by 2. Since both a and b are divisible by 2, the fraction is not in lowest terms. This contradicts the assumption

that is in lowest term. Therefore, is irrational.

C. Proof of the Contrapositive

A statement can be proved by showing the truth of the contrapositive ~ ~ , since a
conditional and its contrapositive are equivalent.

Example 1: Prove: If is odd, then x is odd.

The contrapositive is: If x is even, then is even.

Proof: Since if x is even, then is even is the contrapositive of the given statement and this is already proved so we conclude that
the given statement is true.

D. Proof by Enumeration

- This method is used to prove a universal statement , where x is restricted to a finite number of values in the
universal set U or when U is a finite set.
- It may also used to prove statements of the form when P is a finite set.
- It consists of verifying the truth of a given statement for each possible value of the variable.

Example 1. Prove: .
Proof: (by enumeration)
We consider all possible products xy, where and . The possible product can be presented in a
multiplication table as follows:

1 0 -1
0 0 0
-1 0 1
We see that all possible products are contained in the set . Thus the statement is true.

Example 2. Prove: For all integers x: If , then is even.

Proof: (by enumeration)
The conditional is of the form , where is “ ” and is “ is even”. The truth set
of is , so that we need to verify for and only. When we have ,
which is even. When , we have , which is also even. Thus the statement is true.

E. Proof of Existence
- is used to prove existential statements . The proof consists of exhibiting a specific value of x in the universal set for
which is true.

Example 1. Prove: is divisible by 4.

Proof: (by proof of existence)
Let . Then , which is divisible by 4. Thus the statement is true.

Example 2. Prove: There is a prime number which is even.

Proof: (by proof of existence)
Let . Then 2 is an even prime number. Thus the statement is true.

Remarks:

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 1. Universal statements may be proved using the direct proof, indirect proof, proof of the contrapositive, or proof by
enumeration.
2. In general, uni8versal statements are not proved using proof by enumeration. However, proof by enumeration is used if all
possible cases can be presented.

F. The Principle of Mathematical Induction (PMI)

Consider the table:

1 3 11
2 15 13
3 63 17
4 255 23
5 1023 31

We observe that the entries in the second column are all divisible by 3 and those that are in the third column are all prime. On the basis
of this observation, we may assert that for each positive integer n, is divisible by 3. The assertion is correct, but any
conclusion that is based on limited observation may prove to be false. For example, by using the same argument, we may also assert
that for each positive integer n, is a prime number. This is not true, however, for when ,
, which is not prime number. Enumeration of a number of cases attesting to the truth of
the statement does not necessarily prove that the statement is true. Proving that an assertion is true for some set of successive integers
is usually done using mathematical induction.

Mathematical Induction is a method used to prove statements that are true for all positive integers. This method is based on the
following fundamental axiom.

Axiom of Mathematical Induction

Suppose a set S of positive integers has the following two properties:
(i) S contains 1,
(ii) whenever S contains a positive integer k, S also contains .
Then S contains every positive integer.

We note that if S contains 1 and satisfies (ii) then it must contain . If S contains 2, then it must contain . If S
contains 3, then it must contain , and so on. Hence, if n is any specific integer then n is in S since we can proceed a step at a
time, eventually reaching n.

Using the above axiom, the following fundamental principle of mathematical induction follows.

Principle of Mathematical Induction

Let be an integer and be a statement in terms of an integer n for each
, satisfying the following:
1. is true
2. If and is true, then so is .
Then, is true for all .

Proof by mathematical induction consists the following steps:

1. Verify that is true.
2. Assume that for some arbitrary integer , is true.
3. Prove that is true.

Example 1. Prove: .
Proof: (by Mathematical Induction)
1. Verify that is true
If , then . Therefore, is true.
2. Assume that for , is true.

3. Prove that is true.

To prove that is true, use by adding to :

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 Hence, is true.
Therefore, is true for all positive integers n.

Example 2. Prove:

Proof: (by Mathematical Induction)

1. Verify that is true

If , then . Therefore, is true.

2. Assume that for , is true.

3. Prove that is true.

To prove that is true, use by adding to :

Hence, is true.
Therefore, is true for all positive integers n.

Example 3. Prove: For all integers (Exercise)

Example 4. Prove: For all integers is divisible by 3.

Proof: (by Mathematical Induction)
1. Verify that is true
If , then which is divisible by 3. Therefore, is true.
2. Assume is true for ,
is divisible by 3
By definition of divisibility
, for some

3. Prove that is true.

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 is divisible by 3
We need to show that such that

Hence, is true.
Therefore, is divisible by 3 for all positive integers n.

Example 5. Prove: is divisible by

Proof: (by Mathematical Induction)
1. Verify that is true
If , then which is divisible by . Therefore, is true.

2. Assume is true for ,

is divisible by .
By definition of divisibility

3. Prove that is true.

is divisible by .
We need to show that such that

Since , .
Hence, is true.
Therefore, is divisible by for all positive integers n and .

Example 6. Prove: For all integers : is divisible by 5 (Exercise).

Methods of Disproof

A disproof is a systematic way of showing that an assertion is false.

A. Disproof by Counterexample
- is a method of disproving a universal statement by exhibiting a counterexample.
- a a value of x for which is false is called counterexample to the universal statement .
Example 1. Disprove: For all integers x : .
Disproof: (by Counterexample)
Let . Then and . Thus when , so
that the statement is false.

Example 2: Disprove: .
Disproof: (by Counterexample)
Let and . Then which is not an element in the set . Thus the statement is false.

B. Disproof by Contradiction
- begins by assuming that the statement is true and proceeds to obtain consequences from it until a contradiction is reached. Since
the contradictions do not occur in valid reasoning, the error must lie with the assumption. Thus, the statement is false.
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Example 1. Disprove: There is an integer x such that .
Disproof: (by contradiction)
Suppose that the statement is true. Then we can find an integer x that satisfies the equation. Thus,

Since is not an integer, this contradicts the assumption that x is an integer. Therefore, the statement is false.

Example 2. Disprove: For all x:

Disproof: (by contradiction)
Let us assume that the statement is true. Then

That is, the equation is true only for and . This contradicts the assumption that the equation
is true for all x. Therefore the statement is false.

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