Before I get into the subject on representing claims, I want to briefly mention the symbols used to describe words that are shown and used in arguments being made in compound claims.
These are shown on page 360 in our text by Epstein:
-and= ^
-or= v
-not= backwards L
-if…then…= -->
In order for us to utilize truth-tables we have to be able to show ordinary claims and arguments.
For example,
Ice cream can be found at Cold Stone Creamery or Frozen Yogurt can be found at Pinkberry.
When analyzing this, we can represent this using the “exclusive” or.
(Ice cream can be found at Cold Stone Creamery v Frozen yogurt can be found at Pinkberry) ^ backwards L (Ice cream can be found at Cold Stone Creamery ^ Frozen Yogurt can be found at Pinkberry
An example of using a conditional (“ --> - claim is false if the antecedent=true and consequent=false. Otherwise it is true” (361) would be:
(in baseball): Strike me out and I’ll strike you out.
This is an example of a conditional and it can represent as:
You strike me out --> I strike you out
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Haha I liked your attempt to make the symbols, very nice! And your examples made me truly hungry because it has been so ridiculously hot in San Jose. I could definitely go for some frozen yogurt. Although I am no Pinkberry fan; I got to have my Yogurtland!! I studied Truth Tables in finite math, and I certainly had some trouble understanding them. They were pretty complex then, and I still find them reasonably complicated. When truth tables are applied to actual words as opposed to math concepts, it definitely makes it a lot easier to understand though! Nice examples.
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