MAT 31101 College Algebra Sep 25 to 02, Oct 2023
1. Consider the statement “for all integers a 6. Prove that log(7) is irrational.
and b, if a + b is even, then a and b are
7. In a competition, a school awarded medals
even”
in different categories. 36 medals in dance,
(a) Write the negation of the statement. 12 medals in dramatics and 18 medals in
music. If these medals went to a total of 45
(b) Is the original statement true or false?
persons and only 4 persons got medals in
Prove your answer.
all the three categories, how many received
(c) Write the contrapositive of the state- medals in exactly two of these categories?
ment.
8. A guidance counsellor is planning sched-
(d) Write the converse of the statement. ules for 30 students. Every student will
take either French or English or Latin. 16
(e) Is the converse of the original state-
students say they want to take French, 16
ment true or false? Prove your answer.
want to take English, and 11 want to take
(f) Is the negation of the original state- Latin. 5 say they want to take both French
ment true or false? Prove your answer. and Latin, and of these, 3 want to take
English as well. 5 want only Latin, and
(g) Is the contrapositive of the original 8 want only English. How many students
statement true or false? Prove your want French only?
answer.
9. Prove by cases that
2. Consider the statement: for all integers n,
if n is even then 8n is even (a) if n ∈ Z, then n3 − n is even
(a) Prove the statement. What sort of (b) 9n2 + 3n − 2 is even ∀n ∈ Z
proof are you using?
10. Use a counterexample to disprove each
(b) Is the converse true? Prove or dis- statement
prove.
(a) If m and n are irrational numbers,
3. Your “friend” has shown you a “proof” he then mn is irrational.
wrote to show that 1 = 3. Here is the proof:
(b) ∀ real numbers a and b, if a2 = b2 ,
I claim that 1 = 3. Of course we can do then a = b.
anything to one side of an equation as long
as we also do it to the other side. 11. Prove by contradiction that
So subtract 2 from both sides. This gives (a) if x3 is odd, then x must be odd.
−1 = 1. Now square both sides, to get 1 = 1. (b) there are no integers a and b such that
And we all agree this is true. 10a + 15b = 1
What is going on here? Is your friend’s (c) if n is an integer and 3n + 2 is odd,
argument valid? Is the argument a proof then n is odd.
of the claim 1=3
√ (d) if n is an integer and 3n + 5 is even,
4. Prove that 3 is irrational. then n is odd.
5. Consider the statement: for all integers a 12. Prove, by induction, that ∀n ∈ Z+
and b, if a is even and b is a multiple of 3,
then ab is a multiple of 6. 5n(n + 1)
(a) 5 + 10 + 15 + . . . + 5n =
2
(a) Prove the statement. What sort of
(b) 2 + 4 + 6 + . . . + 2n = n(n + 1)
proof are you using?
(b) State the converse. Is it true? Prove (c) 5n − 1 is divisible by 4.
or disprove. (d) 1 + 5 + 9 + . . . + (4n − 3) = n(2n − 1)
MAT 31101 College Algebra Sep 25 to 02, Oct 2023
(e) 5n − 4n − 1 is divisible by 16 21. In a competition, a school awarded medals
in different categories. 36 medals in dance,
13. Prove that the sum of two consecutive in- 12 medals in dramatics and 18 medals in
tegers is odd. music. If these medals went to a total of 45
14. Prove, by counter-example, that each of persons and only 4 persons got medals in
the following statements is false. all the three categories, how many received
medals in exactly two of these categories?
(a) For all integers n, n2 + 6n + 5 is even.
22. Each student in a class of 40 plays at least
(b) For all positive integers n, n3 − n + 7 one indoor game chess, carrom and scrab-
is prime. ble. 18 play chess, 20 play scrabble and 27
play carrom. 7 play chess and scrabble, 12
15. Prove by cases that
play scrabble and carrom and 4 play chess,
(a) For every integer n, if n is not divisible carrom and scrabble. Find the number of
by 3, then n = 3k + 1 for some k ∈ Z students who play (i) chess and carrom. (ii)
chess, carrom but not scrabble.
(b) For every integer n, 2n2 + n + 1 is not
divisible by 3.
(c) The square of any integer is of the
form 3k or 3k + 1 for some k ∈ Z.
16. A and B are subsets of a universal set hav-
ing 12 elements. If A has 7 elements, B has
9 elements and A ∩ B has 9 elements , then
what is the number of elements in A ∪ B ?
17. If A = {1, 2, 3, 4}. Find the number of non-
empty subsets of A.
18. Of the members of three athletic teams in a
school, 21 are in the cricket team, 26 are in
the hockey team and 29 are in the football
team. Among them, 14 play hockey and
cricket, 15 play hockey and football, and
12 play football and cricket. Eight play all
the three games. Find the total number of
members in the three athletic teams.
19. A class has 175 students. The following
data shows the number of students obtain-
ing one or more subjects. Mathematics 100;
Physics 70; Chemistry 40; Mathematics
and Physics 30; Mathematics and Chem-
istry 28; Physics and Chemistry 23; Math-
ematics, Physics and Chemistry 18. How
many students have offered Mathematics
alone?
20. In a group of 100 persons, 72 people can
speak English and 43 can speak French.
How many can speak English only? How
many can speak French only and how many
can speak both English and French?
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