Validity of Argument

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Definition of Logic

Logic is the systematic study of valid rules of


inference, i.e. the relations that lead to the
acceptance of one proposition on the basis of a
set of other propositions. More broadly, logic is
the analysis and appraisal of arguments.
Logic can also be defined as a science that deals
with the rules and processes used in sound
thinking and reasoning.
Mathematical logic
Mathematical logic is a subfield
of mathematics exploring the applications of
formal logic to mathematics. Mathematical
logic can be defined as the study of the
relationship between certain objects such as
numbers, functions, geometric figures etc.
Mathematical logic is often divided into the
fields of set theory, model theory, recursion
theory, and proof theory.
A statement, or a proposition, this is a verbal or
written declaration sentence or assertion that is
either true or false, but not both.
Upper case letter denote propositions.
Examples of propositions that are logical are:
P: 2 is an even number. (true)
Q: 7 is an even number. (false)
R: 8 . (true)
S: 3 + 4 = 8 (false).etc.
Consider the following propositions that are not logical:
P: Do you want to go to the movies? (question)
Q: (This is a declarative sentence, but unless x is assigned a
value or is otherwise prescribed, the sentence neither true nor
false, hence, not a proposition.)
R: Clean up your room. (Imperative or command)
S: What a great day (exclamation)
T: I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob. (gibberish)
In general, questions, exclamation, commands, saying,
expression of feelings, gibberish and paradox which cannot be
assigned a truth value of truth (T) or false (F) are not statements
in logical context.
Compound propositions
A statement can be obtained from the combination
of two or more simple statements by means of
logical operators called connectives. Such
combination of is called a compound proposition.
Compound statement can be represented using Venn
diagram and set of language. For example, the sets
P: those who live in Nigeria
Q: those who live in Adamawa state
R: people who live in Numan
Statement P is the universal set, and R is a
Subset of Q, i.e R Q
R P

Logical connectives
Connectives are words, phrases or symbols that is used
to form compound proposition. The basic connectives
are negation, conjunction, disjunction, implication and
equivalence.
Negation of Statement.
If a statement is denoted by p, then negation of the statement
or proposition is not p, it is written symbolically by or (p´)
If the statement p is true , then the statement P is false.
Conversely, if p is false, then P is true.
Example
Write the negation of the following statements:
p: All polygons are quadrilaterals
q: XYZ is an isosceles right angled triangle
r:
s: The Roman numeral of 1998 is MCMXVIII
Solution
P : All polygons are not quadrilaterals
q :XYZ is not an isosceles right angled triangle
r:
s: The Roman numeral of 1998 is not MCMXVIII
It is often possible to form negation without
using the word “not”. In such cases, we look at the
sense of the statement and use appropriate
language to form the negation.
Example2
P: The product of their ages forms an odd number.
q: The speed of the car is a variable.
r: The principal was absent from the valedictory service.
s: Tunde has illegible handwriting.
solution
p: The product of their ages forms an even number.
q: The speed of the car is constant.
r: The principal was present at the valedictory service.
s: Tunde has legible handwriting.
Truth table.
The truth or falsity of a statement is called its truth
value.
The truth table for a statement p and the p is
summarized below.
p p
T F
F T
Exercise
Write the negation of the following statement.
P:Yinka was present in the Church last Sunday.
Q:
R: I am a mathematician.
T: My father is an old man.
Write the negation of the following statements without the use of “not”.
P: Bayo is a bad listener.
Q: The hospital is in bad shape.
R: He is an ugly man.
S: Ada is the shortest girl in the class.
T: He obtained the least mark in the examination.
B: She scored more than 70
N: Luke earns more than Praise
Example1:
Form the conjunction of P and Q for each of the following.
a) P: It is raining
Q: The weather is warm
b) P: 2+3 = 5
Q: 1
c) P: Musa is intelligent
Q: He is hardworking
Example 2
Let ξ = {a, b, c, d, e, f, g}
A = {b, d, f, g}
B = {a, b, d, e, g}. Find the set A B
Example 3:
Form compound statement from the substatements using ‟and”
expressing the compound statement in symbolic form.
p: Osogbo is the capital of Osun State.
q: Ikeja is the capital of Lagos State.
Solution
p Ʌ q : Osogbo is the capital of Osun State and Ikeja is the capital of
Lagos
State.
This can be represented using venn diagram.
ᶓ = { states in Nigeria}
P = {Osogbo is the capital of Osun State}
𝐩 𝐪

In set notation, the shaded region p represents the conjunction of
p and q symbolically as p Ʌ q.
A conjunction is true only if both of the substatement are true.
Thus the statement ‟Osogbo is the capital of Osun State and Ikeja
is the capital of Lagos state” is true. This can be shown in the truth
table.
p q pɅq
conjunction
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F F
Assignment:
Form compound statement from the substatement using ‟and”
expressing the compound statement in symbolic form.
1a) p: He is a footballer.
q: He is a tennis player.
b) p: Squares are special rectangles.
q: A rhombus is a special parallelogram.
c) p: 2+ 5 = 7
q: 7
d) p: He is very hardworking.
q: He is intelligent.
2). write the symbolic form for the compound statements.
a) Obi is humble and Wole is proud
b) Obi is not proud and Wole is humble
3. show the truth table for the statement p Ʌ q if
P : Ikeja is the capital of Lagos State.
q: 12 – 9 = 3.
4.. Let p and q represent: Yakubu attends chemistry class and
Lawrence passes mathematics,
respectively. Write symbolically the statement; Yakubu does
not attend chemistry class and Lawrence passes mathematics.
5. If p and q are two simple statements construct a truth table of
the proposition p Ʌ q.
5. ξ = {People who lives in Jemeta Yola}
A = {Lawyers}
B = {People who wear glasses}

ii)write out the compound statement A ∧ B and shade the


i) illustrate the propositions using a Venn diagram

required region in the Venn diagram.


6. Find the component of the following statement and check whether
they are true (T) or false (F).
a) All prime numbers are either even or odd.
b) A square is a quadrilateral and all its four sides are equal.
c) Washington is the capital of America and England.
d) is a natural number and an irrational number.
Example 1
Let P: q

Then the disjunction P ∨ Q denotes the statement


Q: 6 is an integer.

i.e P ∨ Q : q or 6 is an integer.
Example 2
ξ: People who live in FCT
A: doctors

i. Write the compound statement A ∨ B


B: people who wear glasses.

ii. Show the set A ∨ B using Venn diagram


Solution
Considering the statements
ξ: People who live in FCT
A: doctors

i. A ∨ B: people who are either doctors or wear glasses or both


B: people who wear glasses.

lives in FCT.
A ∨ B: people who are doctors or people who wear glasses lives
in FCT.
ii. In set notation the shaded portion
A Bξ
is represented as A

Venn diagram is A ∨ B
The shaded segment of the
Example 3
Write each of the following statements in
symbolic form using P and Q.
a) It is not dark or the light is on.
b) Either the light is on or there is no darkness.
c) The light is neither on nor was it dark.
d) The light is on or it is not dark.
e) It is either dark or the light is on.
Implication (conditional statement)
If two statement are combined by using logical connective
‘if ………then’, then the resulting statement is called a
conditional statement.
Let P and Q be two statements. The implication(conditional
statement) P is the statement that is false when P is true
and Q is false.
Example :
p: This book is interesting.
q: I am staying at home.
p → q: If this book is interesting, then I am staying at home.
The statement P is called the antecedent or hypothesis
while the statement Q is called the consequence or
conclusion.
The truth table for implication.
P Q P
T T T
T F F
F T T
F F T
Example 2
Write the following statement as implication.
a) All planes landing at the airport has a pilot on board.
b) All squares are rectangles.
solution
Each statement can be broken down into two parts.
P: A plane lands at the airport.
Q: it has a pilot on board.
P If a plane land at the airport, then it has a pilot on board.
(b)
P: Squares are quadrilateral.
Q: Is a rectangle.
P: If square are quadrilaterals, then it is a rectangle.
Converse statement.
Let P and Q be two logical statements. If P is a
conditional statement and Q P without any change
in the truth value, then the statements P and Q P are
said to be converse statements.
Example
P: Mr Benson is a politician.
Q: Mr Benson is over 25 years old.
Write the converse of the statement.
Solution
Implication
P If Mr Benson is a politician, then he is over 25 years
old. (true)
converse
Q P: If Mr Benson is over 25 years old, then he is a
politician. (true)
If P is true and Q P is true, thus, Q P is the converse
statement of P
Inverse statement.
If P is a conditional statement. The inverse of the conditional
statement P is Q. For example
P: Ade is a brilliant student.
Q: Ade won the gold medal.
Solution
Implication
P : if Ade is a brilliant student, then she won the
gold medal.
Inverse
Q: if Ade is not a brilliant student, then she did
not win the gold medal.
Contrapositive statement
If P is a conditional statement. The contrapositive of the
conditional P is .
Example
P: Mr Benson is a politician.
Q: Mr Benson is over 25 years old.
Solution
Implication
P If Mr Benson is a politician, then he is over 25 years old.
Contrapositive
Q P: If Mr Benson is younger than 25 years, then he is not a
Thus P means P Q and Q P.
For example, have the same truth set. So if 3 is true, then is true, and if is true,
then is true.
Symbolically

Example 2
P: A triangle is equilateral.
Q: A triangle has three sides equal.
Solution
P Q and Q P.
P :A triangle is equilateral, if and only if it has three sides equal.
Truth table
The truth or falsity of a statement is its
truth value, i.e a statement that is truth
has a truth value (T) and a statement that
is false has a false value (F). Below are the
truth table for the logical operator.
Example 1
Construct the truth table for the following:
i. ()
ii. [( )]
Example 2
Show that the following statement either tautology or contradiction.
iii. [p (p)] [Q
iv. ( (P Q)
Assignment
1. Construct the truth table for the following:
i. (P Q) (Q P)
ii. (P Q) (P Q)
2. Show that the following statement either tautology or contradiction.
v. (P Q) () (
Validity of Argument
A logical argument is a relationship between a sequence
of statements X1, X2,X3,..Xn called premises and another
statement Y called the conclusion. Usually, an argument
is denoted by X1, X2,X3,..Xn; Y .One of the major
application of logic is the determination of validity
(correctness) or otherwise of arguments. An argument is
valid if its conclusion is true whenever all the premises
X1,X2, X3,…Xn are true (T); and it is not valid if the truth
value is false(F), it is also called a fallacy.
The validity of an argument can be determine by the following method.
a) Venn diagram
b) chain rule.
Venn Diagram
Example 1
Determine the validity of the argument below.
x1 : All men are mortal.
X2 : Socrate is a man.
Y : Therefore, socrate is mortal. A B
C
solution
ξ = { Living things}
A = {All men}
B = { Mortal men}
C = {Socrate}
the shaded region represent A n B men are mortal.
The conclusion that Socrate is mortal follows the premises and it is a valid argument.
Example 2
Determine the validity of the argument.
X is a square → X is a rectangle.
X is a square → is a rhombus.
Therefore , X is a rectangle → X is a rhombus.
Q P
solution R
ξ = {Quadrilaterals} ξ

P = { square}
Q = { rectangle}
R = {rhombus}
since there Q n P = φ , i.e x is a square → x is a rectangle is not true.
And R n Q = φ , is not true i.e x is a rectangle → x is a rhombus.
Hence the argument is invalid.
Chain rule method
the chain rule state that if X, Y and Z are statement
such that X → Y and
Y → Z, then X→Z. A chain rule can have as many
link as possible.
Example 1
Determine the validity of the argument.
A: X is a science student →X offer physics.
B: X offer physics →perform well in mathematics
.
solution
A: X is a science student
B: X offer physics
C: X perform well in mathematics
A (1st premise)
B (2nd premise)
A and B
Then, A
The argument is valid. X is a science student → is
perform in mathematics.
Example 2
P: X work very hard →X passes his examination
Q: X passes his examination→ X is a graduate.
solution
P: X work very hard
Q: X passes his examination
R: X is a graduate .
P
Q
P and Q
Then, P R
Assignment
Determine the validity of the following argument using venn diagram
1. X1 : No farmer is lazy
X2: No non farmer wears gold wrist-watch
Y: therefore, a lazy person does not wear a gold wrist watch
2. All reptiles are intelligent animals
A tortoise is a reptile
Therefore, a tortoise is an intelligent animal
3. No doctor is dirty a person
All friends are clean person
Therefore, all my friend s are doctors
4. Nurses are hospitable people
My neighbor are hostile to one another
5.Determine the validity of the argument using
the chain rule
A: All economics students offer mathematics.
B: If a students offers government, then she offers
economics.
6. Determine the validity of the argument.
A: If a girl falls she will break her arm
B: If a girl climbs a tree, she will fall.
Determine and state whether the following arguments are valid
or not by choosing either A. Not Valid or B. Valid in each case.
7.All expensive things are desirable.
All desirable things make you feel good.
All things that make you feel good make you live longer.
Therefore, expensive things make you live longer.
8. Teachers are disciplined people.
Good leaders are disciplined people.
Therefore, teachers are good leaders.
9. All banana trees have green leaves.
That plant has green leaves.
Therefore, that plant is a banana tree.

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