Convert English statements to logical forms

discrete mathematicslogic

Everyone has a roommate who dislikes everyone

  • $ R(x,y)=$ $x$ and $y$ are roommates
  • $L(x,y)=$ $x$ likes $y$

so it becomes

$$\forall x \exists y (R(x,y) \land \lnot L(y,x))$$

Is this correct ? Thank you

Best Answer

Not quite. Your statement reads something like

“Everyone has a roommate who dislikes him/her.”

You might fix your statement by replacing $\neg L(y,x)$, which reads “$y$ dislikes $x$,” with $\forall z \neg L(y,z)$, which reads “$y$ dislikes everyone.”


Not to get nitpicky, but something about this problem bothers me: it assumes that $\neg L(x,y)$ reads “$x$ dislikes $y$,” when, in reality, “not liking someone” is not necessarily the same as “disliking” them. However, this is just a semantic point and not wholly relevant.

Related Question