Week 1 Lecture 2 (Fri) - Logically correct arguments in propositional logic Flashcards
What makes an argument logically correct?
If in every situation that makes all premises true, the conclusion is true as well.
What is a situation?
a row in the truth table of p1,p2,…,pn,q
How can we conclude an argument as incorrect?
find one situation where all premises are true, but the conclusion is false.
Why are rules of inference convenient?
Sometimes truth tables can be long/excessive/take time to draw out. These rules establish the correctness of some simple argument forms.
When “x>3”, P(x), what do the “P” and “x” represent?
P is the predicate (property) “greater than 3” and x is the variable.
When does P(x) become a proposition?
By assigning a value (a concrete entity) to its variable, P (x) becomes a proposition that has a truth value.
How would you formalize formalise a statement like “x = y + 4”? How would you describe this predicate?
Q(x,y) - x and y are the variables, Q is the predicate joining two variables. Q is a binary predicate.
What are the two ways of forming a proposition from a predicate P(x)?
- assigning a concrete value to x
2. Quantification.
What is Quantification?
Quantification expresses the extent to which a predicate is true over a range of entities, called the domain.
How do you denote the universal quantification of P (x) for a particular domain?
∀xP(x).
What is the universal quantification of P(x)?
“P (x) is true for all values of x from the domain.”
What happens to truth value of ∀x P (x) is we change the domain?
It might also change.
universal instantiation:
For each and every entity c in the domain we have a correct inference rule of the form
How do you denote existential quantification of P (x) for a particular domain?
∃x P (x).
What does ∃x P (x) mean?
The proposition “there exists a value for x in the domain such that P (x) is true.”