Visual SolutionHard
Question
Consider the statement . The statement is:
(A)A tautology
(B)A contradiction
(C)True only when is false
(D)Equivalent to
Solution Path
Assume is false: hypothesis true, conclusion false. Chase truth values: forces hypothesis to be false. Contradiction proves is a tautology.
01Question Setup
1/4Determine whether is a tautology, contradiction, or contingency.
Classify statement
02Proof by Contradiction
2/4Assume is false. Then the hypothesis is true and the conclusion is false. For the conclusion to be false: is true and is false.
false
03Reaching the ContradictionKEY INSIGHT
3/4From and true: . From : . From : . But we assumed this was true. Contradiction!
Hypothesis cannot be true when conclusion is false
04Final Answer
4/4Since assuming is false leads to a contradiction, is always true. This is the distribution law for conditionals (also called the currying law).
- Answer (A)
Concepts from this question2 concepts unlocked
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STANDARDConditional Statement Equivalences
p -> q is logically equivalent to ~p OR q, and also to its contrapositive ~q -> ~p. The conditional is false only when p is true and q is false.
Converts conditional problems into simpler OR statements. The equivalence p -> q = ~p OR q is the single most tested identity in this chapter.
Truth value problemsLogical equivalenceTautology identification
Practice (9 Qs) →Negation Rules for Compound Statements
To negate a compound statement, apply De Morgan's laws: negate each component and swap AND with OR (and vice versa). For conditionals, ~(p -> q) = p AND ~q.
Negation questions appear in almost every JEE Main paper on this topic. Getting De Morgan's wrong costs easy marks. The conditional negation formula is especially tricky since students default to ~p -> ~q.
Negation problemsStatement equivalenceContrapositive identification
Practice (10 Qs) →Want more practice?
Try more PYQs from this chapter →