[Math] Using quantifiers to express this sentence.

discrete mathematicslogicquantifiers

These are from a study guide, just checking my work.

Let $F(x,y)$ be the statement "$x$ and $y$ are friends." where the domains consists of all people in the class. Use quantifiers to express the following:

A.) "There exists some student in this class who is friends with all of the others."

$\exists x \forall y F(x,y) $

B.) "All students in this class must have at least one friend."

$\forall x \exists y F(x,y)$

C.) "There exists some students in this class whose friends are not friends with each other."

$\exists x \exists y \neg F(x,y)$

Best Answer

Your answers to (a) and (b) are correct.

Your answer to (c) says: there exist two people in the class who are not friends. This is not the same as what the original statement means; but you're very close to having the right answer.

Break it down:

  • There exists a student, say $x$...
  • ...and given any of this student's friends, say $y$ and $z$, i.e. $F(x,y)$ and $F(x,z)$...
  • ...these friends are not friends with each other, i.e. $\neg F(y,z)$.

Can you see how to put this together?

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