Math 366

Quiz 2

1. Each of the arguments (a) through (d) is VALID or NOT VALID; determine which. For VALID arguments,
name the valid argument form (Modus Ponens or Transitivity, for example, or [be careful!] their Universal
counterparts). For arguments that are NOT VALID, name the fallacy illustrated (Converse Error or Inverse
Error, for example).

(a)
If that’s a thermometer, then I’m Bugs Bunny.
That’s not a thermometer.
• I’m not Bugs Bunny.

(b)
t is rational or t is irrational.
t is not irrational.
•t is rational.

(c)
(∀x ∈ R)(x 6∈ Q) → (x ∈ Q̂)
∼ (t ∈ Q̂)
• ∼ (t 6∈ Q)

(d)
If Pigs Fly, then there’s a Sty in the Sky.
There is a Sty in the Sky.
• Pigs Fly.

2. Use BOTH of (a) a Truth Table AND (b) a sequence of Equivalences (from the textbook-and-handout
list... naming a justification for each “step”) to prove the equivalence p∧ ∼ (q∧ ∼ p) ≡ p.

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3.Is Owen in debt?
Create symbols appropriately (“OM” replacing “Owen is a millionaire”, for example). Think through the
problem to discover its Answer. Then justify your answer with a sequence of “steps” written in these symbols
(and appropriate “logic” code); each consisting of a three-line (major premise, minor premise, conclusion)
“argument”. Each premise of a given step should come from the given information ((a)–(e)) or a previous
“step”; each conclusion will (of course!) be an instance of some valid Rule of Inference. (Compare “Example
2.3.8” at Epp, pp. 56f).
a. Owen is a millionaire or Owen is underinsured.
b. If Owen is underinsured, then Owen is in debt.
c. If Owen is a millionaire, then Owen is not in debt.
d. If Owen is a millionaire, Owen has quit his job.
e. Owen has not quit his job.

4.
Write appropriate negations. It does not suffice simply to affix “∼” (or the phrase ”it is not the case that...”
[for example]); the negation of x < 17 isn’t ∼ (x < 17), for example [or x 6< 17 for that matter], but x ≥ 17.

•(∀x)P (x) → Q(x)

•x < 0 or x ≥ 1

• There ain’t no life nowhere.