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Assignment 2
Instructions: There are 40 points (plus 3 bonus points), worth 16.67% of your final mark; the points
available per question are given following the question number. Please write clearly, and make sure
you check your answers as best as you can. When explanations are called for, keep them concise.
Do not use cover pages of your own, or any cardboard or plastic covers. Please fill this out and
staple the pages together with this cover page on top. Please also consult the lateness policy
outlined on the course syllabus.
NOTE: It should be remembered that the assignments are not just assessment tests. They also have a
pedagogical function, in that they’re designed to push you to look into things which you might not
already have looked at sufficiently closely.
Question Mark
1 /6
2 /5
3 /5
4 /5
5 /10
6 /5
7 /4
TOTAL /40
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Questions about Language
1. (6 pts.) Suppose we have an FOL with constant symbols/names a, b, c, d, and e, function symbols
f (x), g (x), h (x, y), predicate symbols P (x), Q (x), R (x, y), x = y, and one ternary connective (x, y, z).
For each of the following, indicate whether they are simple terms, complex terms, atomic
sentences, or complex (non-atomic) sentences, or none of these.
Informal Proof
2. (5 pts.) Prove (informally) whether if S is a tautological consequence of P1, . . . , Pn, then the set of
sentences {S, P1, . . . , Pn} is consistent.
Explanation
Formal Proofs (You may not use TautCon or AnaCon for any of these proofs.)
4. (5 pts.) Provide a formal proof in f showing that the sentence (P P) is a tautology.
5. (10 pts.) Determine whether the following argument is tautologically valid. If it is, provide a
formal proof in f. If it is not, then describe a counterexample.
Translations
6. (5 pts.) Using the predicate symbols from Tarski’s World, translate the following English
sentences into FOL.
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Equivalence (4 pts.)
P Q R (P, Q, R)
T T T F
T T F T
T F T T
T F F T
F T T T
F T F T
F F T T
F F F F
Express this connective with a sentence that only uses the Boolean connectives in its most simplified
form—that is, using a sentence containing no more than two occurrences each of P, Q, and R, and
no more than six occurrences of the Boolean connectives , , and . Briefly explain how you
arrived at this sentence. If you used a chain of equivalences, please include it in your response.
Harry Potter and Hermione Granger are inhabitants of the island of knights and knaves, where
knights only tell the truth, and knaves only lie. Harry says “I am a knight if and only if Snape is on
the island”. Hermione says that if Harry is a knight, then Snape is not on the island. What are Harry
and Hermione, and is Snape on the island? Explain.
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