MATH 135, Fall 2010

Solution of Assignment #1
Problem 1. Find all ordered pairs of integers (x, y) such that x2 + 2x + 18 = y 2 . Solution. Note that 17 = (y + x + 1)(y x 1). Since y + x + 1 and y x 1 are integers, there are only the following possibilities y + x + 1 = 17, y x 1 = 1, or y + x + 1 = 1, y x 1 = 17. The solutions are y = 9, x = 7, or y = 9, x = 9, or y = 9, x = 9, or y = 9, x = 7. Problem 2. Find all real numbers x such that x 13 2 x1 . = 3 x+3

Solution.

Let

x 13 2 x1 = = 3x 39 = 2x + 5 x 3 = x 5 x 36 = 0. 3 x+3

x = y. The equation becomes

y 2 5y 36 = 0 = (y 9)(y + 4) = 0 = y = 9, 4. Since x is a real number, y = x must be positive. Thus, y = 9 and x = 81. Problem 3. Solve y = x +
1 x

with 0 < x 1 for x in terms of y.

Solution. Multiply both sides of the equation by x then use the quadratic formula to get 1 y y2 4 xy = x2 + 1 x2 xy + 1 = 0 x = . x 2 1 1 Note that 0 < x 1 = x 1 x = y = x + x 2x = x y , so we must use the 2 negative sign. Thus y y2 4 x= 2 Problem 4. Let P and Q be statements. Show that the statements NOT (P OR Q) and (NOT P ) AND (NOT Q) have the same truth tables and give an example of the equivalence of these statements in everyday language. y =x+ Solution. P Q T T T F F T F F P OR Q T T T F
1

NOT (P OR Q) F F F T

P Q NOT P NOT Q (NOT P ) AND (NOT Q) T T F F F T F F T F F T T F F F F T T T The nal columns of each table are the same, so the two statements have the same truth tables. This equivalence can be illustrated in everyday language. Consider the statement I do not want cabbage or broccoli. This means that I do not want cabbage and I do not want broccoli. Problem 5. Let P , Q, and R be statements. Show that the statements P AND (Q OR R) and (P AND Q) OR (P AND R) have the same truth tables. This is a distributive law. Solution. P Q R T T T T T F T F T T F F F T T F T F F F T F F F Q OR R T T T F T T T F P AND (Q OR R) T T T F F F F F

P Q R P AND Q P AND R (P AND Q) OR (P AND R) T T T T T T T T F T F T T F T F T T T F F F F F F T T F F F F T F F F F F F T F F F F F F F F F The nal columns of each table are the same, so the two statements have the same truth tables.