This section in the book talks about compound claims and how ttuthful or false they are. The book uses four words/phrases to analyze the different compund claims and they are; and, or, not, if...then.... The book then continues to elaborate on each word/phrase:
And: A conjunction is true when both parts are true. Otherwise it is false.
Or: A negotion is true if its part false; it is false if its part is true.
Not: A disjuction is false if both parts are false. Otherwise it is true.
If...then...: A conditional is false if the antecedent is true and the consequent is false. Otherwise it is true.
---We can use these four concepts everyday in our lives---
An example of a conjuction would be, 'Baxter is a cat and Baxter doesn't like dogs.' This claim would only be true if both parts were true.
An example of a negotion would be, 'The sun has not set.' It is very obvious that if the sun is set, then this claim would be false but if the sun has not set, then the claim is true.
An example of a disjuction would be, 'You are smart or you are stupid.' Disjunctions claims are true when only one part of the claim is true and the other is false. Since it is impossible to be stupid and smart, the 'or' claim is true.
An example of a conditional would be, 'If you study hard, then you will have a better chance to pass this class.' Since we know that study definitaly increases somebodies test scores, this claim is true since both the antecedent and the consequence are true.
And boom goes the dynamite,
Melvin Banner
I enjoyed reading your post on symbols and truth tables. You explained it very well and made it very easy to understand. I liked the way you broke it up into different parts and used an example for each section. One of the things i found most useful in this section was disjuction claims because it is where you say two claims where only one is true. I liked the example you used for this subject because it worked very well with your explanation. Great job on this post and keep up the good work Melvin
ReplyDelete