Discrete Mathematical Structures (UCS405)

Tutorial Sheet-02

1. Let 𝑃(𝑥), 𝑄(𝑥), 𝑅(𝑥), and 𝑆(𝑥) be the statements “𝑥 is a duck,” “𝑥 is one of my poultry,” “𝑥 is
an officer,” and “𝑥 is willing to waltz,” respectively. Express each of these statements using
quantifiers; logical connectives; and 𝑃(𝑥), 𝑄(𝑥), 𝑅(𝑥), and 𝑆(𝑥).
a. No ducks are willing to waltz.
b. No officers ever decline to waltz.
c. All my poultry are ducks.
d. My poultry are not officers.
e. Does (d) follow from (a), (b), and (c)? If not, is there a correct conclusion?
Solution:

2. Let 𝑃(𝑥), 𝑄(𝑥), and 𝑅(𝑥) be the statements “𝑥 is a professor,” “𝑥 is ignorant,” and “𝑥 is vain,”
respectively. Express each of these statements using quantifiers; logical connectives; and 𝑃(𝑥),
𝑄(𝑥), and 𝑅(𝑥), where the domain consists of all people.
a. No professors are ignorant.
b. All ignorant people are vain.
c. No professors are vain.
d. Does (c) follow from (a) and (b)? Explain.
Solution:
(a) ∀x(P(x) → ￢Q(x))
(b) ∀x(Q(x) → R(x))
(c) ∀x(P(x) → ￢R(x))
(d) The conclusion does not follow. There may be vain professors because the premises do not rule out the
possibility that there are other vain people besides ignorant ones.

3. Use rules of inference to show that the hypotheses “If it does not rain or if it is not foggy,
then the sailing race will be held and the lifesaving demonstration will go on,” “If the sailing
race is held, then the trop hy will be awarded,” and “The trophy was not awarded” imply the
conclusion “It rained.”
Solution:
Let R = “It rains”
F = “It is foggy”
S = “The sailing race will be held”
D = “Life-saving demonstrations will go on”
T = “The trophy will be awarded”

We can now proceed to prove the claim:

Step Reason
1 ¬T Premise
2 S→T Premise
3 ¬S Modus Tollens
4 ¬S ∨ ¬D Addition
5 ¬ (S ∧ D) DeMorgan’s Law
6 (¬R ∨ ¬F) → (S ∧ D) Premise
7 ¬(¬R ∨ ¬F) Modus Tollens
8 R∧F DeMorgan’s Law
9 R Simplification
 4. Consider
Premises: If Claghorn has wide support, then he'll be asked to run for the senate. If Claghorn
yells "Eureka" in Iowa, he will not be asked to run for the senate. Claghorn yells "Eureka" in
Iowa.
Conclusion: Claghorn does not have wide support.

Determine whether the conclusion follows logically from the premises. Explain by
representing the statements symbolically and using rules of inference.

Solution:

5. Consider the following open propositions over the universe 𝑈 = { −4, −2, 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10}
𝑃(𝑥): 𝑥 ≥ 4
𝑄(𝑥): 𝑥 2 = 25
𝑅(𝑥): 𝑠 is a multiple of 2

Find the truth values of

a. 𝑃(𝑥) ⋀ 𝑅(𝑥)
b. [~𝑄(𝑥)] ⋀ 𝑃(𝑥)
Solution:
The truth values for each element of U under the given conditions of propositions is given in the following
table:
 6. Express each of these sentences into logical expression using predicates, quantifiers, and
logical connectives.
a. No one is perfect.
b. Not everyone is perfect.
c. All your friends are perfect.
d. At least one of your friends is perfect
e. Everyone is your friend and is perfect.
f. Not everybody is your friend or someone is not perfect.
g. At least one mail message, among the nonempty set of messages, can be saved if there
is a disk with more than 10 kilobytes of free space.
h. Whenever there is an active alert , all queued messages are transmitted.
i. The diagnostic monitor tracks the status of all systems except the main console.
j. Each participant on the conference call whom the host
Solution:
a. This means that everyone has the property of being not perfect: ∀𝒙 ¬ 𝑷(𝒙).
Alternatively, we can write this as ¬ ∃𝒙 𝑷(𝒙)., which says that there does not exist a perfect
person.
b. This is just the negation of "Everyone is perfect": ¬ ∀𝒙 𝑷(𝒙).
c. If someone is your friend, then that person is perfect: ∀𝒙 ( 𝑭(𝒙) → 𝑷(𝒙)). Note the use of
conditional statements with universal quantifiers.
d. We do not have to rule out your having more than one perfect friend. Thus we have simply
∃𝒙 ( 𝑭(𝒙)⋀ 𝑷(𝒙)). Note the use of conjunction with existential quantifiers.
e. The expression is ∀𝒙 ( 𝑭(𝒙) ⋀ ( 𝑷(𝒙)). Note that here we did use a conjunction with the
universal quantifier, but the sentence is not natural (who could claim this?). We could also
have split this up into two quantified statements and written ∀𝒙 ( 𝑭(𝒙)) ⋀ ∀𝒙 ( 𝑷(𝒙)).
f. This is a disjunction. The expression is (¬ ∀𝒙 𝑭(𝒙) ) ⋁ ( ∃𝒙 ¬ 𝑷(𝒙)).
g. ( ∃𝒙 𝑭(𝒙, 𝟏𝟎)) → ∃𝒙 𝑺(𝒙) ), where 𝐹(𝑥, 𝑦) is "Disk x has more than y kilobytes of free space,''
and S(x) is "Mail message x can be saved"
h. ( ∃𝒙 𝑨(𝒙)) → ∀𝒙(𝑸(𝒙) → 𝑻(𝒙) ), where A(x) is ''Alert x is active," Q(x) is "Message x is
queued," and T(x) is "Message x is transmitted"
i. ∀𝒙 ((𝒙 ≠ 𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒆) → 𝑻(𝒙)), where T(x) is "The diagnostic monitor tracks the status of
system x"
j. ∀𝒙 (¬ 𝑳(𝒙) → 𝑩(𝒙)), where L(x) is "The host of the conference call put participant x on a
special list'' and B(x) is "Participant x was billed"

7. Let 𝐷𝑥 = 𝑁 and 𝐷𝑦 = 𝑁 0 . Define 𝑃(𝑥, 𝑦) as “𝑥 divides 𝑦".

Find the truth values along with proper reasons for the following quantified predicates:
i. ∀𝑥 𝑃(𝑥, 0)
ii. ∀𝑥 𝑃(𝑥, 𝑥)
iii. ∀𝑦 ∃𝑥 𝑃(𝑥, 𝑦)
iv. ∃𝑦 ∀𝑥 𝑃(𝑥, 𝑦)
v. ∀𝑥 ∀𝑦 [(𝑃(𝑥, 𝑦) ⋀𝑃(𝑦, 𝑥)) → (𝑥 = 𝑦)]
 vi. ∀𝑥 ∀𝑦 ∀𝑥 [(𝑃(𝑥, 𝑦) ⋀𝑃(𝑦, 𝑥)) → 𝑃(𝑥, 𝑧)]
Solution:

8. Identify the error or errors in this argument that supposedly shows that if ∀𝑥 (𝑃(𝑥) ∨ 𝑄(𝑥)) is
true then ∀𝑥 𝑃(𝑥) ⋁ ∀𝑥 𝑄(𝑥) is true.
a. ∀x(P(x) ∨ Q(x)) Premise
b. P(c) ∨ Q(c) Universal instantiation from (1)
c. P(c) Simplification from (2)
d. ∀xP(x) Universal generalization from (3)
e. Q(c) Simplification from (2)
f. ∀xQ(x) Universal generalization from (5)
g. ∀x(P(x) ∨ ∀xQ(x)) Conjunction from (4) and (6)
Solution:
Steps 3 and 5 are incorrect; simplification applies to conjunctions, not disjunctions.

9. Let 𝑘 be a positive integer. Show that 1𝑘 + 2𝑘 + 3𝑘 + ⋯ + 𝑛𝑘 is Ο(𝑛𝑘+1 ).

Solution:
𝟏𝒌 + 𝟐𝒌 + 𝟑𝒌 + ⋯ + 𝒏𝒌 ≤ 𝒏𝒌 + 𝒏𝒌 + 𝒏𝒌 + ⋯ 𝒏𝒌 = 𝒏. 𝒏𝒌 = 𝒏𝒌+𝟏 .

10. Prove that if n is an integer and 3n + 2 is even, then n is even using

a. proof by contraposition.
b. proof by contradiction.
Solution:
(a) We must prove the contrapositive:
 If n is odd, then 3n + 2 is odd. Assume that n is odd. Then we can write n = 2k + 1 for some integer
k . Then 3n + 2 = 3(2k + 1) + 2 = 6k + 5 = 2(3k + 2) + 1. Thus 3n + 2 is two times some integer plus
1, so it is odd.

(b) Suppose that 3n + 2 is even and that n is odd. Since 3n + 2 is even, so is 3n. If we add subtract
an odd number from an even number, we get an odd number, so 3n − n = 2n is odd. But this is
obviously not true. Therefore our supposition was wrong, and the proof by contradiction is
complete.

11. Proof by contrapositive that for every real number 𝑥 𝜖 [0, 𝜋/2], we have sin 𝑥 + cos 𝑥 ≥ 1.
Solution:
Suppose for the sake of contradiction that this is not true.
Then there exists an 𝒙 𝝐 [𝟎, 𝝅/𝟐] for which 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝒙 + 𝐜𝐨𝐬 𝒙 < 𝟏.
Since x ∈ [0, π/2], neither sin x nor cos x is negative, so 0 ≤ sin x + cos x < 1.
Thus 𝟎𝟐 ≤ (𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝒙 + 𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝒙)𝟐 ≤ 𝟏𝟐 , which gives 𝟎𝟐 ≤ 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝟐 𝒙 + 𝟐 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝒙 𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝒙 + 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝟐 𝒙 < 𝟏𝟐
As 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝟐 𝒙 + 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝟐 𝒙 = 𝟏, this becomes 0 ≤ 1+2 sin x cos x < 1, so 1+2 sin x cos x < 1.
Subtracting 1 from both sides gives 2 sin x cos x < 0.
But this contradicts the fact that neither sin x nor cos x is negative.

12. What is wrong with the following proof? Explain your answer with a va lid explanation.
Prove that the statement √2 + √6 < √15 is true.
“Proof”:
Step 1. √2 + √6 < √15
2
Step 2. (√2 + √6) < 15
Step 3. 8 + 2√12 < 15
Step 4. 2√12 < 7
Step 5. 48 < 49
Solution:
It may seem that the above argument is correct as we have reached a true statement (48 <
49), but this is not the case. It is important to remember that statement X ⇒ true statement
does NOT mean that statement X is necessarily true! We assumed that √2+ √6 < √15 is true,
whereas this is what we need to prove. Therefore, our implications are going in the wrong direction.
Valid proof would be of the form true statement ⇒ statement X showing that X is true.

1 1 1 1
13. Derive the formula for the following expression: + + + ⋯+
2 4 8 2𝑛
Also prove the validity of your formula using mathematical induction.
Solution: