Question

Which of the following are valid (necessarily true) sentences? a. (∃x x = x) ⇒ (∀ y ∃z y = z). b. ∀ x P(x) ∨ ¬P(x). c. ∀ x Smart(x) ∨ (x = x)

Answer 1

Answer:

b; ∀x   P(x) ∨ ¬P(x)

Step-by-step explanation:

Suppose that we have a proposition p

Such that p can be true or false.

We can define the negation of p as:

¬p

Such that, if p is false, then ¬p is true

if p is true, then ¬p is false.

Also remember that a proposition like:

p ∨ q

is true when, at least one, p or q, is true.

Then if we write:

p ∨ ¬p

Always one of these will be true (and the other false)

Then the statement is true.

And if the statement depends on some variable, then we will have that:

p(x) ∨ ¬p(x)

is true for all the allowed values of x.

from this, we can conclude that the statement that is always true is:

b; ∀x   P(x) ∨ ¬P(x)

Where here we have:

For all the values of x,   P(x)  ∨ ¬P(x)