National University of Singapore

Department of Mathematics
GEK1505 Living with Mathematics

Tutorial 1

1. A Cretan said, All Cretans are liars. Assuming that no self-contradictory

statements are made, can he be telling the truth? Can he be the only
Cretan in existence? Does there exist any Cretan who tells the truth?
2. Express the following statements in terms of simple statements con-
nected by and, or, not.
(a) Although he loves food, he eats neither chicken nor beef.
(b) Either both Jack and Jill are innocent, or else only Jack is guilty.
(c) At most two of the persons Tom, Dick and Harry committed the
robbery.
3. Express the following statements as implications. Write down their
negations, converses, inverses and contrapositives.
(a) Where there is a will, there is a way.
(b) No venture, no gain.
(c) There is no smoke without fire.
(d) Easy come, easy go.
4. It is agreed that if everybody brings food into the cinema, the cinema
will be dirty. Does it logically follow that if nobody brings food into the
cinema, the cinema will not be dirty?
5. Identify the conclusion of the following argument and express the argu-
ment in logical form. Why is it not valid? Without slavery of some
kind there can be no civilization. For there can be no civilization without
leisure, and unless there is slavery leisure does not exist.
6. Comment on the validity of the following argument.

Everything in the universe, so far as we can tell, ceases to exist eventually.

At the one extreme, stars exist for millions of years; at the other extreme,
high-energy particles for a few millionths of a second. They all have their
alloted life spans. Therefore, the universe itself must have its allotted life
span and must eventually cease to exist.
7. Express the following arguments in logical form using letters to represent
the relevant statements. For each argument explain why it is valid or not.
(a) If man is meant to fly, then man would have grown wings. Since man
has not grown wings, man is not meant to fly.
(b) Without good roads the industrial park cannot flourish. Since the
roads are good, the industrial park will flourish.
(c) If there is a recovery in the economy, there will be more cars on the
road. Since the economy has not recovered, there will be fewer cars
on the road.
(d) Kants philosophical writings are undeniably difficult, and only diffi-
cult writings are profound. It follows that Kants philosophical writ-
ings are profound.
(e) All historical books that contain no lies are extremely boring. This
book is interesting and so must contain some lies.
(f) All media advertisements are exaggerations. Since this product is
not advertised, it must be reliable,