Problem of the Fortnight #1

 

Logical Rustlings

 

The great mathematician Bertrand Russell in a whimsical moment once defined mathematics as “… the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true,” and here is a puzzle of which the same thing might be said.

 

As a simple exercise in abstraction suppose that four meaningless symbols A, B, C and D correspond in one order or another to the equally meaningless symbols W, X, Y and Z, and suppose further that:

 

                If A is not X, then C is not Y.

                If B is either Y or Z, then A is X.

                If C is not W, then B is Z.

                If D is Y, then B is not X.

                If D is not X, then B is X.

 

                In what order do the two sets of symbols correspond?

 

Solutions are due by 4pm on Friday, September 10th in Goodrich 108