5.1.x. Exercise questions

1. Analyze each of the following sentences in as much detail as possible.
  a. If it was raining, the roads were slippery.
  b. He was home if the light was on.
  c. Ann and Bill helped if Carol was away
  d. Sam will help—and Tom will, too, if we ask him.
  e. If it was warm, they ate outside provided it didn’t rain.
  f. If the new project was approved, Carol started work on it and so did Dave if he was finished with the last one.
  g. If he found the instructions, Tom set up the new machine; otherwise, he packed up the old one.
2. Restate each of the following forms, putting English notation into symbols and vice versa and indicating the scope of connectives in the result by underlining:
  a. A ∧ (B → C) c. if A then both B and if C then D
  b. (A ∧ B) → C d. both if A then B and if not A then not B
3. Synthesize idiomatic English sentences that express the propositions that are associated with the logical forms below by the intensional interpretations that follow them.
  a. ¬ S → ¬ B
S: I’ll see it; B: I’ll believe it
  b. S → ¬ (R ∨ N)
S: it was sunny; R: it rained; N: it snowed
  c. ¬ W ← ¬ (P ∧ ¬ B)
W: the set works; P: the set is plugged in; B: the set is broken
  d. ¬ (A ∨ B) → (G ← ¬ (C ∨ D))
A: Adams will back out; B: Brown will back out; G: the deal will go through; C: Collins will have trouble with financing; D: Davis will have trouble with financing
4. Calculate truth values for all components of the forms below on each possible extensional interpretation. Since the first two each have two unanalyzed components, there will be 4 interpretations and your table will have 4 rows of values; with three components, as in the third and fourth, there will be 8 interpretations giving 8 rows of values.
  a. (A → B) ∧ (B → A)
  b. ¬ (A ∧ B) → (¬ B ∨ A)
  c. (A → C) ∧ (B → ¬ C)
  d. ¬ (A → C) ∧ (¬ B → C)
Glen Helman 03 Oct 2004