Assignment 2 SC/MATH 1190 A (Fall 2023)

Part (a) Due Wednesday, September 27, at 1:30 pm

Part (b) Due Sunday, October 1, at 10:00 pm

Part (a): Pre-reading Due Wednesday, September 27, at 1:30 pm

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In the remaining time until reading week (through October 6), we will discuss Sets, Functions, Sums,
and Cardinalities, bringing us to the end of the material that will be on term test 1. We will cover all of
Chapter 2, except section 2.6 (which you will encounter in a linear algebra course). Please read sections
2.1–2.4 to prepare for the lectures through October 2.

• Section 2.1 (Sets) The fundamental question associated with a set is which objects are its elements.
Pay attention to examples so that you become familiar with the notation and terminology of sets.
You should be prepared to see and interpret symbols like x ∈ S, A ⊂ B, |S|, A × B, P(A), and A \ B.
You should try to understand the notation used in the roster method before we start our in-class
discussion, but set-builder notation will be developed as we need it.

• Section 2.2 (Set Operations). When you read this section, look for parallels to our discussion of
propositional logic. This is an excellent opportunity to review section 1.3, and make sure that you are
familiar with the key ideas from that section. The basic set operations of Union, Intersection, and
Complementation are analogous to the logical operations of Disjunction, Conjunction, and Negation,
and the table of set identities (Table 1) should remind you of the table of Logical Equivalences (Table
6 of section 1.3.2). Other operations from propositional logic also have analogues in set theory. Look
at Example 13, and compare the method of membership tables to the use of proof tables, and think
about how the statement A ⊂ B is analogous to the statement p → q.

• Section 2.3 (Functions). A functions pairs each element of one set, the domain, with an element
of a second set, the codomain. Our study of functions will have two main themes.

– Most of your experience with functions has probably involved functions from the real numbers
to the real numbers. We will extend the ideas from that setting to functions between any two
sets.
– The ideas of surjection and injection are closely tied to the two principles of counting: if you
want to count things correctly, you need to count everything at least once, and you cannot
count anything more than once. A function with both properties is called a bijection. These
ideas will be essential to understanding cardinalities of infinite sets when we get to section 2.5.
– We will also discuss how addition, multiplication, composition, and inversion interact with
functions, and look at some specific functions, floor, ceiling, and factorial functions, that you
might not have encountered in high school. The arithmetic of functions is needed for section
3.2.

• Section 2.4 (Sequences and Summations). Functions with domain N or Z+ are special enough
that we often using a different notation for dealing with them. We will refer to such a function as
a sequence, and will examine several common kinds of structured sequences, including arithmetic
sequences and geometric sequences. We will revisit many examples of this section as we learn about
induction (Chapter 5) and recurrence relations (Chapter 8) later in the course.

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Question A1:
Table 6 of Section 1.3.2 and Table 1 of Section 2.2.2 are very similar. Most of the named laws that appear
in one also appear with the same name in the other.

(a) Which law or laws appear only in Table 6?

(b) Which law or laws appear only in Table 1?

(c) Let P be the set consisting of the names of logical equivalences from Table 6 of section 1.3.2. Let S
be the set consisting of the names of set identities from Table 1 of section 2.2.2.

(i) Use the roster method to list the set S − P .

(ii) What is the value of |P − S|?
(iii) What is the value of |P | − |S|?

Question A2:
Suppose that {bn } is a sequence defined by bn = 13 n3 + 12 n2 + 61 n.

(a) List b0 , b1 , b2 , b3 , and b4 .

(b) Compute b1 − b0 , b2 − b1 , b3 − b2 , and b4 − b3 .

(c) Guess a formula for bn − bn−1 that works for all integers n?
You could use algebra to see whether your formula is always correct.

Re-Reading

We have finished our introductory discussion to logic, corresponding to Chapter 1 of the textbook. Many
of the ideas we started exploring in that chapter, particularly proof techniques, will be revisited as we
encounter applications throughout the rest of the course.
This would be a good time to review your list of definitions from Chapter 1. For each definition, try to
test your understanding by looking for an example of an object that satisfies the definition, an example
of an object that doesn’t satisfy the definition, and an example of an object that you are not sure about,
without looking at your notes.

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Part (b): Practice and Review Due Sunday, October 1, at 10:00 pm

Please prepare long-form answers to each question in this part of the assignment.

Question B1:
You may have been surprised to see in A2 that bn is always an integer. This is equivalent to the implication:
If n is an integer, then the polynomial function p(n) = 2n3 + 3n2 + n is a multiple of 6.
For example, p(6) = 2 × 63 + 3 × 62 + 6 = 546 = 6 × 91.

(a) Compute p(5) and show directly that it is a multiple of 6 by finding p(5) ÷ 6.

(b) In fact, this is a consequence of the fact that the polynomial itself can be factored. Use algebra to
show that 2n3 + 3n2 + n = (2n + 1)(n + 1)(n) by multiplying out the right hand side.

(c) For every integer n, one of the three factors is a multiple of 3, and one is a multiple of 2. Build a
table of n, n + 1, and 2n + 1 for n between 1 and 8. Circle the even numbers in your table, and put
a box around the multiples of 3. Submit your table.

(d) Can you find a pattern to which entries are circles and which entries have boxes around them?
We will use modular arithmetic, in chapter 4, to verify that this pattern continues for all n.

Question B2:
Several common rules of inference are given below.
p→q p→q
p
p (Modus Ponens) q→r (Hypothetical Syllogism) (Addition)
∴p∨q
∴q ∴p→r
p→q p∨q p
¬q (Modus Tollens) ¬p (Disjunctive Syllogism) q (Conjunction)
∴ ¬p ∴q ∴p∧q

(a) Use rules of inference to construct a valid argument that uses the premises p, p → ¬q, r → q to
reach the conclusion ¬r. In each step, state explicitly what rule of inference you are using.

(b) The table given in this question does not include all of the rules of inference from Table 1 of Section
1.6. Which rules are missing? Could you have used any of them to simplify your argument?

(c) You are given the following three premises:

(i) There is a lifeguard shortage.

(ii) If there is a lifeguard shortage, then the pools are closed.
(iii) If the waterslide is running, then the pools are open.

Do you have enough information to logically conclude whether or not it the waterslide is running?
Explain how to reach a conclusion, or describe what extra information you require.
Hint: assign appropriate propositional variables, and use the conclusion of part (a).

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Question B3:
Consider an argument of the form “We know p OR q is true, and we know that p is true, so we can conclude
that q is false.” Whether this is valid depends on whether ‘OR’ is used in the inclusive or exclusive sense.


(a) Use a truth table to verify that (p ⊕ q) ∧ p → ¬q is a tautology.


(b) Verify that (p ∨ q) ∧ p → ¬q is not a tautology, by finding truth values of p and q so that the
compound expression is false.
Your rough work will probably involve constructing (part of ) a truth table for this expression, but you
do not need to present the entire table to convince someone of your conclusion.

Since in logic we generally treat ‘OR’ as inclusive, the argument form is a fallacy, that is often called
‘affirming the disjunct’.

Question B4:
If the universe of discourse is the integers, determine the truth value of each of the following statements.
Justify each answer.

(a) ∃n(n2 = n)

(b) ∀n(n2 + 3 ≥ 1

(c) ∀n∃m(m − n = 2)

(d) ∃m∀n(m − n = 2)

Question B5:
Let q be the statement At least one of x, y and z is odd.

(a) Describe a suitable universe of discourse and a suitable predicate O so that q is equivalent to
∃n(O(n)).

(b) Apply one of De Morgan’s Laws for Quantifiers (see Table 2 of Section 1.4.9) to ¬∃n(O(n)) to find
a quantified expression that is logically equivalent to ¬q.

(c) Translate your quantified expression for (b) into English.

(d) Could you have found this expression for ¬q directly, without translating into logical notation first?
Did using logical notation help you to check your work, or reveal anything new in this case?

Question B6:
Prove that if x, y, and z are integers, and x + y + z is odd, then at least one of x, y, and z is odd.
Hint: This expression can be written in the form p → q. You could prove this in contrapositive form by
showing that ¬q → ¬p, and your description of ¬q from B4(c) might help.

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