Bosch Discrete Mathematics Fall 2023

ASSIGNMENT ONE
Due Friday 9.8.23, 1:30 pm, King 323

Readings:
Please read over my notes and your notes.

Note: You will be graded on the correctness of your solutions and on how easy they are
to read and understand. You will receive full credit for a solution to a problem if and
only if the grader believes that a typical student in the class would understand how to do
the problem after having read your solution.

1. During a production meeting for an upcoming television special, Geraldo Rivera

learns of a town in rural Ohio in which zombies and humans live and work in harmony.
When Geraldo asks, “How can this be so?”, his head researcher tells him that the zombies
in this town are not everyday, garden-variety zombies (which are silent, clumsy, and have
a voracious appetite for human flesh). Rather, to the casual observer these zombies look
like normal human beings. At this point Geraldo asks, “How are they different?”, and the
head researcher explains, “The zombie inhabitants always lie, and the human inhabitants
always tell the truth.” She pauses to take a sip of mineral water, and Geraldo declares,
“It sounds like a Knights and Knaves problem to me.”
The head researcher responds, “It’s not so simple. Although the inhabitants are fluent
in English, they’re unwilling to speak in any language but their own. We’ve searched high
and low for someone who speaks it, but we haven’t had any luck. The only thing we’ve
managed to discover is that when you ask an inhabitant a yes-no question, they will
answer “nee” or “ping.” The problem is that we don’t know which of these two words
means “yes.”
Geraldo responds, “Here’s what we’ll do. The town is within driving distance of
Oberlin College. We’ll hire a Discrete Mathematics student to do some fieldwork!”
Suppose that you have been hired by Geraldo. He instructs you to drive to the town
and ask its inhabitants yes-no questions.
a. Suppose that you ask an inhabitant “Are you a zombie?” and the inhabitant replies
“nee.” What can you conclude?
b. Suppose that Geraldo sends you to the town to determine the meaning of “nee” and
“ping” and that you are allowed to ask just one yes-no question. What question would
you ask? Hint: What did you learn in part a?
c. Now suppose that Geraldo sends you to the town to determine whether the mayor is
a zombie. While there, you are allowed to ask just one yes-no question. (You do not
know the meaning of “nee” and “ping”.) What question would you ask?

(over)

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Bosch Discrete Mathematics Fall 2023

2. On a certain game show, a contestant is placed in front of a stage. On the stage,

there are three curtains – #1, #2, and #3. The contestant is told that there is a brand
new car behind one curtain and a case of Spam behind another. There is nothing behind
the remaining curtain. Each curtain has a sign in front of it. The signs read:

#1 #2 #3
There is If the car is behind This sign is telling the
nothing behind this curtain, then the truth if and only if there
this curtain. Spam is behind #1. is nothing behind # 1

The contestant is told that at most one of the signs is telling the truth. Where is the car?
Where is the Spam?

3. Consider the following two statements:

I. I think, therefore I am.

II. I don’t think, therefore I’m not.
Are they logically equivalent? Explain.

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