THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

MATH3066 ALGEBRA AND LOGIC

Semester 1 Week 2 Exercises 2018

1. Decide if the following statements can have a well-defined truth-value:

(a) The integer 57 is a prime.
(b) The integer 57 is a Grothendieck prime.
(c) London is in England.
(d) This sentence is false.

2. State the converse and contrapositive of each of the following implications:

(a) If the sun is shining we are heading off to the surf.
(b) If I have listened attentively I will do well in the exam.
(c) It is necessary to have a valid password to log on to the computer.
(d) Only if my attendance is recorded will I be bothered coming to tutorials.

3. Use truth tables to verify that the following are theorems:

[ ] [ ]
(a) P ∧ (P ⇒ Q) ⇒ Q (b) ∼ Q ∧ (P ⇒ Q) ⇒ ∼ P
[ ]
(c) (P ⇒ Q) ∧ (Q ⇒ R) ⇒ (P ⇒ R)
[ ]
(d) (P ∨ Q) ∧ (∼ P ∨ R) ⇒ (Q ∨ R)

4. Construct one truth table for each of the following compound propositions.
(a) (P ∨ Q) ∨ R (b) (P ∧ Q) ∨ R
(c) (P ⇔ Q) ∧ R (d) (P ∧ Q) ⇔ R
From your table verify that (c) implies (b), and (b) implies (a), but that neither
of these implications is reversible. Does (d) imply any of (a), (b) or (c)? Is (d)
implied by any of (a), (b) or (c)?

5. Express the following true statements about integers using quantifiers and usual
mathematical symbols:
(a) The product of two negative integers is positive.
(b) The difference of two negative integers need not be positive.
(c) The set Z has no largest or smallest element.
(d) Any set consisting of negative integers has a largest element.

6. You are walking in a labyrinth, which contains at its center a vast treasure.
Suddenly, you find yourself in front of three possible paths: a gold path to your
left, a marble path in the middle, and a stone path to your right. Each path
is protected by a centaur, and they tell you the following: The centaur of the
gold path says, “This path will bring you straight to the center. Moreover, if
 the stone path takes you to the center, then so will the marble path.” The
centaur of the marble path says, “Neither the gold path nor the stone path will
take you to the center.” The centaur of the stone path says, “Follow the gold
path and you’ll reach the center, follow the marble path and you will be lost.”
You were warned ahead of time that all three centaurs are liars. Which path
should you choose to ensure that you will find the treasure? Hint: Consider
three propositions g, m and s where g is the proposition “The gold path brings
you to the center”, and similarly for m and s. Express the three statements
made by the centaurs as compound propositions using g, m and s. Call these
C1 , C2 and C3 respectively, and draw some truth tables.

7. Recall that we defined the “floor-log” function f log2 : Q> → Z by f log2 (a/b) =
f log2 (a) − f log2 (b), and f log2 (a) is the highest power of 2 that divides a. (In
class we denoted this just f log.) Define f logp for any prime p and use this to
√
prove that p is irrational for any prime number p.

8. In this exercise we’ll prove the distributivity laws in propositional logic. Let
P, Q, R be propositions. Prove that:
(a) P ∧ (Q ∨ R) is logically equivlanet to (P ∧ Q) ∨ (P ∧ R).
(b) P ∨ (Q ∧ R) is logically equivlanet to (P ∨ Q) ∧ (P ∨ R).