Q2Discrete Mathematics Structure
Question
10 marks
(a) Define tautology and prove the following : (p → q) → (~q → ~p) is tautology. (b) Define fallacy and prove the following : (p ∧ q) ∧ ~(p ∧ q) is a fallacy. (c) Prove the following : (i) p ∧ (q ∨ r) ≡ (p ∧ q) ∨ (p ∧ r) (ii) p ↔ q ≡ (p → q) ∧ (q → p)
Answer
Proofs for tautology, fallacy, and logical equivalences.
(a) Tautology: . This is the law of contraposition. If is true, then if is false, must be false. Truth table shows all rows are True.
(b) Fallacy: . This is of the form , which is always false regardless of the truth values of and .
(c) Equivalences: (i) Distributive law . (ii) Definition of biconditional .