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Assignment 4

This document provides instructions for Assignment 4 in an SC/MATH 1190 B course. It includes two parts: Part (a) is due on October 6th and involves pre-reading on proofs and sets. It includes discussion questions on proof by cases, proof strategies, set definitions and operations. Part (b) is due on October 17th and expands on properties of even and odd integers. It includes three proof-based questions exploring logical expressions about integers, proving implications about sums of integers, and using cases to prove a polynomial function is even for integer values.

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kamel
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80 views

Assignment 4

This document provides instructions for Assignment 4 in an SC/MATH 1190 B course. It includes two parts: Part (a) is due on October 6th and involves pre-reading on proofs and sets. It includes discussion questions on proof by cases, proof strategies, set definitions and operations. Part (b) is due on October 17th and expands on properties of even and odd integers. It includes three proof-based questions exploring logical expressions about integers, proving implications about sums of integers, and using cases to prove a polynomial function is even for integer values.

Uploaded by

kamel
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Assignment 4 SC/MATH 1190 B (Fall 2022)

Part (a) Due Thursday, October 6, 2022, at 7 pm


Part (b) Due Monday, October 17, 2022, at 10 am

Part (a): Pre-reading: Due Thursday, October 6, 2022, at 7 pm


Lecture 5 will finish our introductory discussion on proofs and begin a discussion of Sets, the second major
theme of the course. Take a second look at section 1.8 (Proof Methods and Strategy), and also begin
reading Chapter 2. We will discuss several of the ideas from sections 2.1 and 2.2, especially emphasizing
the similarities between set operations and logical operations.
• From section 1.8, we will discuss the method of “Proof by Cases” (Section 1.8.2). To justify the
method, we need a specific family of tautologies, that we began investigating as part of assignment 3.
We will look a little bit at how our work on that assignment can be extended, and revisited once we
learn about induction.
• We will also discuss “Proof Strategies” (Section 1.8.5), examining Example 14√(the AM/GM prop-
erty), and looking at how attempts to extend the proof of the irrationality of 2 motivate some of
the ideas from number theory that we will use to close out the course.
• Section 2.1 (Sets) introduces the idea of a set. The most fundamental question we can ask a set is
whether a particular item is one of its elements. For now, focus on section 2.1.1–2.1.3. We will revisit
section 2.1.4 (The Size of Sets), section 2.1.5 (Power Sets), and section 2.1.6 (Cartesian Products),
after the first term test.
• Section 2.2 (Set Operations). Note the definition of the basic set operations of Union, Intersection,
and Complementation, which correspond to Disjunction, Conjunction, and Negation from logic. Pay
particular attention to the table of set identities, Table 1 of Section 2.2.2. Notice that this table
is almost a direct parallel of the table of Logical Equivalence, Table 6 of Section 1.3.2. We do not
have a direct equivalent to Tables 7 and 8 of Section 1.3.2, but those logical operations also have
analogues in set theory. Look also at Example 13, and compare the method of membership tables to
the method of proof tables.

Question A1:
In lecture, we will discuss the polynomial function p(n) = 2n3 +3n2 +n, as an example of an object that can
be studied via case analysis. It may be somewhat surprising that whenever n is an integer, p(n) is a multiple
of 6. For example p(4) = 2 × 43 + 3 × 42 + 4 = 180 and 180 = 6 × 30, while p(6) = 2 × 63 + 3 × 62 + 6 = 546
and 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. You could check
(but are not required to do so) that 2n3 + 3n2 + n = (2n + 1)(n + 1)(n). For ever integer n, one of
the three factors is a multiple of 3 and one of the factors is a multiple of 2.
(i) When n = 5, compute the three factors.
(ii) Which factor is a multiple of 3.
(iii) Which factor is a multiple of 2.

Question A2:
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) How are your two lists related?


c 2022 Michael La Croix All Rights Reserved Page 1 of 2
Part (b): Practice: Due Monday, October 17, 2022, at 10 am
This assignment will expand on some of the properties of even and odd integers. It is not meant to give
you a profound understanding of number theory, but instead should give a concrete setting where we can
discuss some of the ideas of logic and proof techniques.

Recall that an integer n is even if n = 2k for some integer k, and odd if n = 2k + 1 for some integer k.
You may assume that every integer is either even or odd, so that when n is an integer, the proposition
¬(n is even) is logically equivalent to (n is odd).

Question B1:
Let q be the statement At least one of x, y, and z is odd.

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

(b) Apply one of De Morgan’s Laws for Quantifiers (Table 2 of Section 1.4.9) to the existential form of
q (from (a)) to find a quantified expression that is logically equivalent to ¬q.

(c) Translate your new quantified expression (from (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 something new in this case?

Question B2:
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. In the contrapositive form, you would need to
prove that ¬q → ¬p, and your description of ¬q from B1(c) might help.

Question B3:
This question provides a simple example where case analysis is useful. Our goal will be to conclude that
the polynomial function 15n2 + 11n + 2 is even whenever n is an integer.

(a) Compute 15 × 72 + 11 × 7 + 2 and 15 × 42 + 11 × 4 + 2 and check that both are even numbers.

Note: These examples do not prove our claim, but working with small examples can help us to check
that a claim is reasonable, before we proceed with an abstract investigation.

(b) Use multiplication to check that 15n2 + 11n + 2 = (3n + 1)(5n + 2).

(c) We will now show that if n is even, then 15n2 + 11n + 2 is even.

(i) Show that if 5n + 2 is even, then 15n2 + 11n + 2 is even.


Note: You should not work with any specific value of n. It is sufficient to use the fact that
5n + 2 = 2k for some k, together with the factorization from (a).
(ii) Use a direct proof to show that if n is even, then 5n + 2 is even.
(iii) Use hypothetical syllogism to conclude that if n is even, then 15n2 + 11n + 2 is even.

(d) Prove that if n is odd, then 15n2 + 11n + 2 is even.


Hint: You can model your proof on (c), but start by showing that if n is odd, then 3n + 1 is even.

(e) Write a proof by cases that combines (c)(iii) and (d) to conclude that if n is an integer, then
15n2 + 11n + 2.


c 2022 Michael La Croix All Rights Reserved Page 2 of 2

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