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Question 19 of 40

Q.Determine whether the following statement pattern is a tautology, contradiction, or contingency:
[(∼p∧q)∧(q∧r)]∧(∼q)[(\sim p \wedge q) \wedge (q \wedge r)] \wedge (\sim q)

Maharashtra MsbshseMaharashtra HSC (MSBSHSE) Board 2022Subjective· 4mImportance★★★★★
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The pattern requires qq to be true (from ∼p∧q\sim p \wedge q) and simultaneously ∼q\sim q to be true (i.e. qq false); this is impossible, so the pattern is always false — a contradiction.

Let S=[(∼p∧q)∧(q∧r)]∧(∼q)S=[(\sim p \wedge q)\wedge(q\wedge r)]\wedge(\sim q). Being a conjunction, SS is true only if every conjunct is true. In particular both (∼p∧q)(\sim p \wedge q) and (∼q)(\sim q) must be true.

  • For (∼p∧q)(\sim p \wedge q) to be true we need qq to be true.
  • For (∼q)(\sim q) to be true we need qq to be false.

A single statement qq cannot be true and false at once, so SS can never be true.

We can confirm this with a truth table. Splitting on qq:

| qq | ∼p∧q\sim p \wedge q | ∼q\sim q | SS |

|---|---|---|---| …

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