VIT Bhopal University

Winter Semester 2024 - 25

MAT2002 - Discrete Mathematics and Graph Theory
Problem Set-1

1. You are about to leave for school in the morning and discover that you don’t have your glasses. You
know the following statements are true:

a. If I was reading the newspaper in the kitchen, then my glasses are on the kitchen table.
b. If my glasses are on the kitchen table, then I saw them at breakfast.
c. I did not see my glasses at breakfast.
d. I was reading the newspaper in the living room or I was reading the newspaper in the kitchen.
e. If I was reading the newspaper in the living room then my glasses are on the coffee table.

Where are the glasses?

2. Translate the statement

∀x(C(x) ∨ ∃y(C(y) ∧ F (x, y)))
into English, where C(x) : x has a computer and F (x, y) : x and y are friends, and the domain for
both x and y consists of all students in your school.

3. State the converse, contrapositive, and inverse of each of these conditional statements.

(a) If it snows tonight, then I will stay at home.

(b) I come to class whenever there is going to be a quiz.
(c) A positive integer is a prime only if it has no divisors other than 1 and itself.
(d) When I stay up late, it is necessary that I sleep until noon.

4. Use the contrapositive to rewrite the statements in if-then form in two ways.

(a) Being divisible by 3 is a necessary condition for this number to be divisible by 9.

(b) Doing homework regularly is a necessary condition for Jasmeet to pass the course.

5. Check if the following expression is a tautology, contradiction, or contingency:

(a) ((p ∨ q) ∧ (p → r) ∧ (q → r)) → r

(b) ¬(q → r) ∧ r ∧ (p → q)

6. Show that the following argument is logically valid:

“If the Government were able and willing to prevent corruption, they would do so. If unable to
prevent corruption, they would be powerless. If unwilling to prevent corruption, they would be
complicit. The Government does not prevent corruption. If the Government exists, it is neither
powerless nor complicit. Therefore, the Government does not exist.”

7. Show that
¬(¬p ∧ q) and (p ∧ q) ∨ (p ∧ ¬q) ∨ (¬p ∧ ¬q)
are equivalent.

8. Show that the following two propositions are logically equivalent

(a) If it rains tomorrow then, if I get paid, I’ll go to Paris.

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 (b) If it rains tomorrow and I get paid then I’ll go to Paris.

9. Determine whether p̄ → (q → r) and q → (p ∨ r) are logically equivalent.

10. Show that the premises p ∨ q, (p ∨ q) → ¬r, ¬r → (s ∧ ¬t) and (s ∧ ¬t) → (a ∨ b) implies (a ∨ b).

11. Use the law of inference to show that the premises “John works hard”, “If John works hard then he
is not having any fun” and “If John is not having any fun, then he won’t make any friends” implies
the conclusion “John will not make any friends.”

12. Show the validity of the following argument using the rule of conditional proof.
“If my program runs successfully then I will submit my project. I can appear in the examination only
if I submit my project. Either my program runs successfully or the computer crashes. Therefore, if
the computer does not crash then I can appear at the examination.”

13. For each of the following inferences determine whether the inference is correct or incorrect and
explain why.

(a) If today is Megha’s birthday, then today is February 16. Today is February 16. Hence, today
is Megha’s birthday.
(b) If the client is guilty, then he was at the scene of the crime. The client is not guilty. Hence,
the client was not at the scene of the crime.

14. Show that (t ∨ s) can be derived from the premises p → q, q → ¬r, r, p ∨ (t ∧ s).

15. Check whether the given premises are consistent or inconsistent.

(a) p → q, q → r, s → ¬r and p ∧ s.
(b) If Ram gets his degree, he will go for a job.
If he goes for a job, he will get married soon.
If he goes for higher study, he will not get married.
Ram gets his degree and goes for higher study.

16. A university database has a table of students (Name, Course, Grade), where ‘Name’ represents the
student’s name, ‘Course’ represents the course the student is enrolled in, and ‘Grade’ represents the
student’s grade in that course. The university has the following policies:
1. Every student must pass at least one course.
2. If a student passes a course, they are eligible for the next level of that course.
3. A student is placed on academic probation if they pass fewer than two courses.
Answer the following:
a. Express all policies in symbolic form.
b. Negate all policy statements and provide their symbolic notation.
c. If the given policies are treated as premises, then find conclusion.
d. Explain how rules of inference (e.g., universal instantiation, modus ponens) can be applied to
automate this policy verification.

17. Use rules of inference for quantified statements verify the following argument is valid or not. The
premises are 1. ∀x (If P (x) then Q(x)), 2. ∀x (If Q(x) then R(x)), 3. P (a) is true for some specific
element a in the domain, and the conclusion is R(a).

18. Describe what is meant by a valid argument in propositional logic and show that the argument “If
the earth is flat, then you can sail off the edge of the earth,” “You cannot sail off the edge of the
earth,” therefore, “The earth is not flat” is a valid argument.

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19. Show that the premises “A student in this class has not read the book,” and “Everyone in this class
passed the first exam” imply the conclusion “Someone who passed the first exam has not read the
book.”

20. Show that the premises “one student in this class knows how to write programs in JAVA” and “Ev-
eryone who knows how to write programs in JAVA can get a high-paying job” imply the conclusion
“Someone in this class can get a high-paying job”.

21. Express the negations of the following statements using quantifiers and in English:

(a) If the teacher is absent, then some students do not keep quiet.
(b) All the students keep quiet and the teacher is present.
(c) Some of the students do not keep quiet or the teacher is absent.
(d) No one has done every problem in the exercise.