Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications, Seventh Edition

Published by McGraw-Hill Education
ISBN 10: 0073383090
ISBN 13: 978-0-07338-309-5

Chapter 1 - Section 1.4 - Predicates and Quantifiers - Exercises - Page 56: 45

Answer

$\exists x (P(x) \lor Q(x))$ is true, then there exists a value y such that $P(y) \lor Q(y)$ is true and thus P(y) is true or Q(y) is true. Then, $\exists x P(x)$ is true or $\exists x Q(x)$ is true, which means that $\exists x P(x) \lor \exists x Q(x)$ is true. $\exists x (P(x) \lor Q(x))$ is false, then for all values y we have $P(y) \lor Q(y)$ and thus $P(y)$ is false and $Q(y)$ is false. Then, $\exists x P(x)$ is false and $\exists x Q(x)$ is false, which means that $\exists x P(x) \lor \exists x P(x)$ is false. Thus, the two expressions always have the same truth value and thus they are logically equivalent.

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