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MATH 135 F 2014: Sample Midterm

1. On Alan’s new game show “Implied to Win”, you see three boxes on stage labelled A, B and C.
You are informed that one box contains $10,000, one box contains $100, and one box contains $1.
However, you do not know which box contains which amount. You are told that the following two
statements are true.
(i) If box B contains $100 or box A contains $1, then box C contains more money than box B.
(ii) Box C contains less money than box B.
Determine the contents of all 3 boxes. Explain your logical reasoning.
Soln. Statement (ii) implies that the conclusion of (i) is false. By Rules of Inference, this means that
the hypothesis of (i) is false. Therefore, box B does not contain $100 and box A does not contain $1.
From (ii), we see that box B cannot have $1, for otherwise box C cannot contain less money than
box B. So our only choice for box B is $10,000. Since box A does not contain $1, it means that box A
contains $100, and hence box C contains $1. Compute the sets A ∪ B and A ∩ B by explicitly listing
all the elements of these sets.
2. Short answer questions.

(a) For all x, y ∈ R, if x + y ≥ 2 then x ≥ 1 or y ≥ 1. [3 marks]

Soln. Let x, y ∈ R. Consider the contrapositive
If x < 1 and y < 1 then x + y < 2.
Assume x < 1 and y < 1. Then x + y < 1 + 1 = 2, so the contrapositive is true. Therefore the
given statement is true.
(b) Let p and q be two prime numbers. Prove that if p | q then p = q.
Soln. Assume p | q. Since q is a prime number, the only positive divisors of q are 1 and q itself.
As p is a prime, p , 1, so p = q.
(c) Show that the product of two numbers of the form 4k + 1 is also of the same form.
Soln. Let n and m be integers, and a = 4n + 1, b = 4m + 1. Then
ab = (4n + 1)(4m + 1) = 16mn + 4m + 4n + 1 = 4(4mn + m + n) + 1.
As 4mn + m + n is an integer, ab is also a number of the form 4k + 1.

3. Use the Principle of Mathematical Induction to prove that for every integer n ≥ 5,
2n > n2 .

Soln. Let P(n) : 2n > n2 .

Base Case: when n = 5, 25 = 32, while 52 = 25. Since 32 > 25, P(5) is true.
Induction Hypothesis: Let k ≥ 5 be an integer. Assume P(k) is true.
Induction Conclusion: when n = k + 1, we have
2k+1 = 2 · 2k
> 2k2 by induction hypothesis
= k2 + k2
= k2 + 2k + 1 + k2 − 2k + 1 − 2
= (k + 1)2 + (k − 1)2 − 2.
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Since k ≥ 5, (k − 1) ≥ 4 and thus (k − 1)2 − 2 ≥ 14 > 0. Hence

(k + 1)2 + (k − 1)2 − 2 > (k + 1)2 .

Consequently, 2k+1 > (k + 1)2 and therefore P(k + 1) is true.

By induction, P(n) is true for all n ≥ 5.

4. A sequence of integers {xn } is defined by x1 = 3, x2 = 7 and xk = 5xk−1 − 6xk−2 for k ≥ 3. Prove using
induction that xn = 2n + 3n−1 for all n ∈ N.
Soln. Let P(n) be the open sentence: xn = 2n + 3n−1 . Using induction on n:
Base Case: when n = 1, we are given x1 = 3, and calculate 21 + 31−1 = 2 + 30 = 2 + 1 = 3. Therefore
P(1) is true.
Similarly, when n = 2, given x2 = 7, we calculate 22 + 32−1 = 4 + 3 = 7, so P(2) is also true.
Induction Hypothesis: Let k ≥ 2 be an integer. Assume for all integers 1 ≤ i ≤ k, P(i) is true.
Induction Conclusion: when n = k + 1, since k + 1 ≥ 3, using the recursion we get

xk+1 = 5xk + 6xk−1

h i h i
= 5 2k + 3k−1 − 6 2k−1 + 3k−2 by using induction hypothesis
h i h i
= (2 + 3) 2k + 3k−1 − (2 · 3) 2k−1 + 3k−2
h i h i h i
= 2k+1 + 2 · 3k−1 + 3 · 2k + 3k − 3 · 2k + 2 · 3k−1
= 2k+1 + 3k .

Therefore, P(k + 1) is also true. By the Principle of Strong Induction, we get that for all n ∈ N, P(n) is
true.

5. Consider the following statement.

 
Statement 1. For all x ∈ R, there exists y ∈ R such that x + y2 = 1 .

(a) Express the negation of Statement 1 without using the word “not” or the ¬ symbol.
 
Soln. There exists x ∈ R such that for all y ∈ R, x + y2 , 1
(b) Either prove that Statement 1 is true, or show that it is false by proving its negation.
Soln. Discussion: The given statement
 
∀ x ∈ R, ∃ y ∈ R, x + y2 = 1

is false.
This solution has been corrected from the previous version.
Disproof : Suppose x = 2.
Then 1 − x = 1 − (2) = −1.
Let y ∈ R. Therefore y2 ≥ 0.
As −1 < 0, there is no real number y such that y2 = −1.
This proves that the negation of the given statement is true. Hence the statement must be false.
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6. Three mathematicians decide to attend a game show as contestants. Before the show begins, the host
hands each of the three contestants a sealed envelope. During the show, the host announces that
there is either a black or a red card (not both) in each envelope. Moreover, he tells the contestants
that the total number of black cards is less than three, and the screen in front of each contestant
shows the cards that their opponents have.
The host then asks each contestant whether they know what card is in their envelope. The first
contestant says he doesn’t know. The second contestant thinks for a while and then admits that he
doesn’t know his card either. Hearing the response from the first two contestants, the third person
immediately tells the host the color of his card.
What is the color of the third contestant’s card? Show how you obtained your answer.
Soln. The third contestant must have a red card.
Assume, for the sake of contradiction, that the third card is black. In that case, if the second card is
also black, then the first contestant would immediately know that the first card is red. Since the first
contestant could not determine his card, that means he must have seen at least one red card with his
opponent.
The second contestant now knows that the first contestant has seen at least one red card. So if he
sees that the third card is black, he would know that the second card must be red. However, he
admits that he does not know the color of his card (contradiction). Therefore, he must have seen a
red card with the third contestant.

7. Given below are two statements and an incorrect proof for each. Determine the flaw in each proof
and briefly discuss what is wrong. For reference purposes, each sentence of the proof is written on
a separate line.

(a) Statement: There is no largest real number.

Proof.
1. Suppose, for the sake of contradiction, the given statement is false.
2. Let x be the largest real number.
3. Consider y = 2x. Then y ∈ R.
4. However, we know that x < 2x.
5. Therefore y that is greater than x (Contradiction!).
6. Consequently, there is no largest real number. 

Soln. Step 4 is incorrect. Since x is chosen to be a random real number in step 2, therefore
x could be either positive or negative or zero. Say, for example, we consider x = −2. Then
y = 2x = −4. But −4 < −2, so in this case x < 2x is false. So in general, we cannot claim that
x < 2x for some randomly chosen real number x.
(b) Consider
   
Statement 2. For all n ∈ Z, if 2 | x2 − 1 then 4 | x2 − 1 .
 
Proof. 1. Since 2 | x2 − 1 , thus x2 − 1 = 2k for some integer k.
2. Since 2k is even, thus k = 2m for some integer m.
3. Then x2 − 1 = 2k = 4m.  
4. Since x2 − 1 = 4m, thus 4 | x2 − 1 . 

Soln. Step 2 is incorrect. The fact that 2k is even does not allow us to conclude that k = 2m for
some integer m. For example, 2 × 3 is even, but 3 cannot be expressed as 2m for any m ∈ Z.
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8. Let S and T be sets. Prove that

(S − T) ∪ (T − S) = (S ∪ T) − (S ∩ T).

Soln. We will prove the set equality using mutual inclusions:

“⊆”: Assume x ∈ (S − T) ∪ (T − S). Then x ∈ (S − T) or x ∈ (T − S). If x ∈ (S − T), then x ∈ S and
x < T, so x ∈ (S ∪ T), but x < (S ∩ T). Otherwise, if x ∈ (T − S), then x ∈ T and x < S, so once again,
x ∈ (S ∪ T), but x < (S ∩ T). Thus, in both cases, we get x ∈ [(S ∪ T) − (S ∩ T)].
“⊇”: Assume x ∈ [(S ∪ T) − (S ∩ T)]. Therefore x ∈ (S ∪ T) and x < (S ∩ T). In other words

[(x ∈ S) ∨ (x ∈ T)] ∧ (x < S ∩ T),

so by the Distributivity Laws, (x ∈ S) ∧ (x < S ∩ T) or (x ∈ T) ∧ (x < S ∩ T). If x ∈ S but x < S ∩ T, then

x must be in S and not in T, as it cannot be in both sets, and hence x ∈ (S − T). Similarly, if x ∈ T and
x < S ∩ T, then x ∈ T and x < S, hence x ∈ (T − S). Combining these cases, we get x ∈ (S − T) ∪ (T − S).

9. Let a, b, c and d be non-zero positive integers. Furthermore, suppose both c and d are elements of the
set
D = {k ∈ N : k | a and k | b} .
Prove the following implication: If

(i) ∀ k ∈ D, k ≤ c, and
(ii) ∃ x, y ∈ Z, d = ax + by,

Then c = d.
Soln. Assume that the hypothesis is true. Since d ∈ D, by hypothesis (i), d ≤ c.
On the other hand, since c | a and c | b, then by Divisibility of Integer Combinations (DIC), c | d.
Combined with the fact that d ∈ N, so d > 0, Bounds by Divisibility (BBD) gives us c ≤ d.
As c ≤ d and d ≤ c, therefore c = d.