Lecture #2A-(MMW) Variables

Definition : A variable is sometimes thought of as mathematical. Variables

can be used as placeholders when to talk about something but either:
a. Can imagine that it has one or more values
b. If someone wants, if ever he says about it to be equally true for all
elements in a given set and so he doesn't want to be restricted to
considering only a particular, concrete value for it.
c. Used of variables
Example: #1. Is there a number with the following property:
“ Doubling it and adding 3 gives the same result as squaring it?” If
your answer is yes, then what is/are the number/s?
Example: #2. Consider the statement:
“ No matter what number might be chosen, if it is greater than 2,
then its square is greater than 4” . Site example to prove that it is
true.
For discussion: Writing sentences using variables(translate the given
statement into symbols). Prove your answer
1. Are there numbers with the property that the sum of their squares
equals the square of their sum?
2. Given any real number, its square is non-negative.
3. Are there numbers whose squares are smaller than the numbers
themselves?
4. A prime number is an integer greater than 1 and whose only positive
divisors are 1 and itself?

Some important kinds of Mathematical Statement

There are three most important kinds of sentences in mathematics such
as: Universal Statement; Conditional Statement; and existential Statement
Definitions:
a. Universal Statement- says that a certain property is true for all
elements in a set. ( Example :” All p[ositive numbers are greater than
zero”.)
b. Conditional Statement - says that if one trying is true then some other
thing also has to be true ( Example: “ If 378 is divisible by 18, the 378
is divisible by 6.”)
 c. Existential Statement- says that there is at least one thing for which
the property is true. (Example: “There is a prime number that is
even.”) In this type of statement a property that may or may not be
true.
There are other statements such that:
a. Universal Conditional Statement - it contains some variation of the
words “for all” and conditional statements contain versions of the
word “if-then” A universal conditional statement is a statement that
is both universal and conditional.
Example: For all animals a,if a is a dog, then a is a mammal.
One most important fact about universal conditional statements is
that they can be rewritten in ways that make them appear to be
purely conditional.
Example: “If a is a dog, the a is a mammal”
Or: “ If an animal is a dog, then the animal is a mammal.”
The statement can also be expressed so as to make its universal
nature explicit and its conditional nature implicit
“ For all dogs a,a is a mammal”
Or “ all dogs are mammals”
Discussion (recitation)
A. Fill-in the blanks: For all real numbers x, if x is nonzero then
x^2 is positive.
1. If a real number is nonzero, then its square is _____.
2. For all nonzero real numbers , _______.
3. If x _____ then ______.
4. The square of any nonzero real number is _____
5. All nonzero real numbers have _____.

B. Rewriting a universal existential statement:

“ Every pot has a lid”
1. All pots______.
2. For all pots , there is _____.
3. For all pots P, there is a lid L such that_____