Month: August 2022

Predicate Logic and Popular Culture (Part 242): The Fellowship of the Ring

Let L(x,y) be the statement “x loves y” and let H(x,y) be the statement “x hates y.” Translate the logical statement

H(\hbox{he},\hbox{the ring}) \land L(\hbox{he},\hbox{the ring}) \land H(\hbox{he},\hbox{himself}) \land L(\hbox{he},\hbox{himself})

This matches Gandalf’s observations about Gollum in The Fellowship of the Ring.

Context: Part of the discrete mathematics course includes an introduction to predicate and propositional logic for our math majors. As you can probably guess from their names, students tend to think these concepts are dry and uninteresting even though they’re very important for their development as math majors.

In an effort to making these topics more appealing, I spent a few days mining the depths of popular culture in a (likely futile) attempt to make these ideas more interesting to my students. In this series, I’d like to share what I found. Naturally, the sources that I found have varying levels of complexity, which is appropriate for students who are first learning prepositional and predicate logic.

When I actually presented these in class, I either presented the logical statement and had my class guess the statement in actual English, or I gave my students the famous quote and them translate it into predicate logic. However, for the purposes of this series, I’ll just present the statement in predicate logic first.

Predicate Logic and Popular Culture (Part 241): Fleetwood Mac

Let P be the set of all people, let T be the set of all times, let \theta(t) be the statement “Thunder happens at time t,” let R(x) be the statement “$It’s raining at time t,” let Q(x) be the statement “x is a player,” let L(x,t) be the statement “x loves you at time t,” and let J(x,t) be the statement “x is playing at time t.” Translate the logical statement

\forall t \in T (\theta(t) \Longrightarrow R(t)) \land \forall x \in P \forall t \in T(Q(x) \land L(x,t) \Longrightarrow J(x,t)).

This matches two lines from the song “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac.

Context: Part of the discrete mathematics course includes an introduction to predicate and propositional logic for our math majors. As you can probably guess from their names, students tend to think these concepts are dry and uninteresting even though they’re very important for their development as math majors.

In an effort to making these topics more appealing, I spent a few days mining the depths of popular culture in a (likely futile) attempt to make these ideas more interesting to my students. In this series, I’d like to share what I found. Naturally, the sources that I found have varying levels of complexity, which is appropriate for students who are first learning prepositional and predicate logic.

When I actually presented these in class, I either presented the logical statement and had my class guess the statement in actual English, or I gave my students the famous quote and them translate it into predicate logic. However, for the purposes of this series, I’ll just present the statement in predicate logic first.

Predicate Logic and Popular Culture (Part 240): AC/DC

Let P be the set of all people, let R(x) be the statement “x is about to rock,” and let S(x) be the statement “We salute x.” Translate the logical statement

\forall x in P (R(x) \Longrightarrow S(x)).

This matches the title and chorus of “For Those About to Rock We Salute You” by AC/DC.

Context: Part of the discrete mathematics course includes an introduction to predicate and propositional logic for our math majors. As you can probably guess from their names, students tend to think these concepts are dry and uninteresting even though they’re very important for their development as math majors.

In an effort to making these topics more appealing, I spent a few days mining the depths of popular culture in a (likely futile) attempt to make these ideas more interesting to my students. In this series, I’d like to share what I found. Naturally, the sources that I found have varying levels of complexity, which is appropriate for students who are first learning prepositional and predicate logic.

When I actually presented these in class, I either presented the logical statement and had my class guess the statement in actual English, or I gave my students the famous quote and them translate it into predicate logic. However, for the purposes of this series, I’ll just present the statement in predicate logic first.

Predicate Logic and Popular Culture (Part 239): Smashmouth

Let P be the set of all people, let T be the set of all times, and let W(x,t) be the statement “At time t, x told me the world is gonna roll me; I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed.” Translate the logical statement

\exists x in P \exists t \in T (W(x,t)).

This matches the opening line from the hit song “All Star” by Smashmouth.

Context: Part of the discrete mathematics course includes an introduction to predicate and propositional logic for our math majors. As you can probably guess from their names, students tend to think these concepts are dry and uninteresting even though they’re very important for their development as math majors.

In an effort to making these topics more appealing, I spent a few days mining the depths of popular culture in a (likely futile) attempt to make these ideas more interesting to my students. In this series, I’d like to share what I found. Naturally, the sources that I found have varying levels of complexity, which is appropriate for students who are first learning prepositional and predicate logic.

When I actually presented these in class, I either presented the logical statement and had my class guess the statement in actual English, or I gave my students the famous quote and them translate it into predicate logic. However, for the purposes of this series, I’ll just present the statement in predicate logic first.