GSC-221:Discrete Mathematics

Semester 1&2 (FALL 2023)

Lecturer: Syeda Komal Fatima

ASSIGNMENT 1
Submission Deadline: 29th OCT, 2023
Student’s name: ____________________ Reg#: __________

INSTRUCTIONS:
 Late submissions are not accepted
 Plagiarism is not allowed
 Submit hand written assignments (pdf format) via LMS.

(CLO1, PLO1, C2)

1. You have been named as the legal guardian of, a young child named Abdullah. Abdullah is
ruthlessly and perfectly logical – he takes each statement at its logical meaning; he does not
believe you will lie, but he does not accept unstated intentions. You want Abdullah to clean his
room, and (like many parents) you’ve resorted to bribery – you are willing to give him some ice
cream in exchange for cleaning his room. Abdullah loves ice cream and hates cleaning. He
would rather have ice cream and clean his room than do neither, but will not clean his room
without the reward of ice cream, nor will he clean if he has any hope of getting ice cream some
other way.

(a) You tell Abdullah “If you don’t clean your room, then I won’t give you any ice cream.” He
looks at you and says “It is not yet logical to clean my room.” Why will he not comply? (1-2
sentences). Show using Truth Table?

(b) You try again: “Forget the first promise” you say “If you clean your room, then I will give
you some ice cream.” Still he says, “It is not yet logical to clean my room” Why is he not
cleaning? (1-2 sentences). Show using Truth Table?

(c) Give a logical sentence which will compel Abdullah to clean his room. Argue that Abdullah
will finally clean his room. (2-4 sentences). ? Show using Truth Table?

2. The following sentences are idiomatic in English...but not very clear logically. Translate each
statement into propositional logic, then write an English sentence that has the same meaning, but
is clearer logically.

(a) If you leave a room, you should turn the light off, unless there is someone in the room
or you don’t see the light switch.

b) I can go home, if the Green line bus is running, and if my green line bus pass is active
as well.
3. Translate the following circuit into a logical expression

4. Let U be the set of all problems on a comprehensive list of problems in science. Define four
predicates over U by:
P (x): x is a mathematics problem
Q(x): x is difficult (according to some well-defined criterion: it does not matter for us what the
criterion is)
R(x): x is easy (according to some well-defined criterion)
S(x): x is unsolvable (if you do not know what "unsolvable" means, do not worry about it here)
Translate into English sentences each of the following formulas:

5. Exclusive or (⊕) and inclusive or (∨) both can be translated as “or” in English. For each of the
following ambiguous phrases, Explain with reason which type of “or” is likely meant:
(a) Experience with C or Java is required.
(b) Lunch includes soup or salad.
(c) Publish or perish.
(d) To enter the country, you need a passport or voter registration card.

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