Math 8: Homework #2 Solution

1.3 - 1 b, c, d, j, m
b) (∀x)(x is precious ⇒ x is not beautiful)
c) (∃x)(x is an isosceles triangle ∧ x is a right triangle)
d) ∼ (∃x)(x is a right triangle ∧x is an isosceles triangle)
j) (∀x)(∃y)(x loves y)
m) (∀x)(∀y)(∃a)(∃b)(x + iy 6= 0 ⇒ (c + di)(x + iy) = π)
1.3 - 4 a, d
a) This statement is false since −1 + −1 = −2 < −1 and −1 is a real number.
d) This statement is true by the intermediate value theorem applied to f (x) =
3x − x2 . f (0) = 1 and f (−1) = −2/3, so there exists some real number
c ∈ [−1, 0] such that f (c) = 0 ∈ [−2/3, 1]. So 3c = c2 .
1.3 - 5 e, f
e) There does not exists a real number whose square is negative.
f) There is a unique real number whose square is zero.
1.3 - 11
The phrase can be translated into quantifiers as follows: (let the universe be all
people)
(∃x)(x can be fooled all of the time)∧(∀x)(x can be fooled some of the time)∧ ∼
(∀x)(x can be fooled all of the time).

The denial of this phrase is therefore:

(∀x)(x can not be fooled all of the time)∨(∃x)(x can not be fooled some of
the time)∨(∀x)(x can be fooled all of the time).

Which can be translated back into english as:

You can not fool all of the people all of the time or you can not fool some
of the people some of the time or you can fool all of the people all of the time.
1.4 - 2 d, g

1
 d) Suppose that the maximum value of a differentiable function f (x) on the
closed interval [a, b] occurs at x0
..
.
Thus, either x0 = a or x0 = b of f 0 (x0 ) = 0. Therefore, if f (x) is a
differentiable function on the closed interval [a, b] with maximum value at
x0 , then either x0 = a or x0 = b or f 0 (x0 ) = 0.
g) There is no g)

1.4 - 4 a, b
Let x and y be integers.
a) Suppose that x and y are even. Then ∃m ∈ Z such that x = 2m and
∃n ∈ Z such that y = 2n (Recall that Z is the set of all integers). So
x + y = 2m + 2n = 2(m + n). And since x + y is two times the integer
m + n, then x + y is even. Therefore, if x and y are even, then x + y is
even.
b) Suppose that x and y are even. Then ∃m ∈ Z such that x = 2m and
∃n ∈ Z such that y = 2n. So xy = (2m)(2n) = 4(mn). So xy is 4 times
the integer mn, so xy is divisible by 4. Therefore, if x and y are even,
then xy is divisible by 4.
1.4 - 7

i) Suppose n is an odd number. Then n = 2k + 1 for some natural number

Therefore since any natural number is either even or odd, n2 + 2n + 3 is odd.

1.4 - 10b

b) This argument doesn’t quite work. The person assumes that ∃q ∈ Z such
that b = aq and ∃q ∈ Z such that c = aq (Since ∃ only extends to the
following statement, the 2 q’s are distinct). However, the person then
writes b + c = aq + aq = 2aq but since the q’s are distinct, this is not true.
b + c = a(q + q). This person became confused with notation. He or she
should have used 2 different variables representing the two integers, say p
and q respectively. Then b + c = aq + ap = a(p + q), and the result follows.
I would assign this a C for a proof which is largely correct.

1.5 - 3 d, f Let x and y be integers.

2
d) The contrapositive of this statement would be: if x and y are odd, then
xy is odd. So assume that x and y are odd, so ∃m ∈ Z such that x =
2m + 1 and ∃n ∈ Z such that y = 2n + 1. So xy = (2m + 1)(2n + 1) =
4mn + 2m + 2n + 1 = 2(2mn + m + n) + 1. So since xy = 2p + 1 where
p = 2mn + m + n, then xy is odd. So if x and y are odd, then xy is odd.
Therefore by contraposition, if xy is even, then either x or y is even.
f) The contrapositive of this statement is: if either x or y is even, then xy
is even. So assume that either x or y is even, say x is even. So ∃m ∈ Z
such that x = 2m. Then xy = 2my = 2(my) which is even. Therefore if
either x or y is even, then xy is even. So by contraposition, if xy is odd,
then both x and y are odd.
1.5 -5 A circle has center (2, 4).
a) Prove this by contradiction. So assume that (−1, 5) and (5, 1) are both
on the circle. The equation of a circle with center (2, 4) and radius R is:
(x − 2)2 + (y − 4)2 = R2 . By plugging in (−1, 5) into this equation, we
find that R2 = 10. But by plugging in (5, 1), we would find that R2 = 18
which is a contradiction. Therefore (−1, 5) and (5, 1) cannot both lie on
the same circle with center (2, 4).
b) Prove this by contraposition. So assume that circle intersects the line
y = x − 6. The circle can either intersect the line at one point or at two
points. The minimum radius that will lead to an intersection, is clearly
the case of intersection at one point. So assume that the circle intersects
the line at one point. Then we must show that the radius of this circle is
greater than or equal to 5. As shown in class, the line through the center
of the circle and the point of intersection will be y = −x + 6. So now
by setting −x + 6 = x + 6, we see that the two lines will intersect at the
point√(6, 0). And if (6, 0) lies on the circle, the circle would have radius
R = 32 > 5. So if the circle intersects the line, it will have radius greater
than or equal to 5. Thus, by contraposition, if the radius of the circle is
less than 5, then the circle does not intersect the line.
1.5 - 12 c

c) This argument also doesn’t quite work. Everything is good up to the point
where the person writes ”the left side of the equation is even because it is
the sum of even numbers.” So the person is assuming the claim he or she
is trying to prove. What he or she would need to do before writing the
above incorrect idea, would be to say x = 2m for some m and y = 2n for
some n, then add everything to get 2m + 2n − 2k = 2(m + n − k) which
is clearly divisible by 2, but the right side is not divisible by 2. Then he
or she would get the desired result.