Proving a Derived Rule with Natural Deduction: Need Help!

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around proving a derived rule in the context of Natural Deduction, specifically involving negation and existential quantifiers. The original poster expresses difficulty in starting the proof due to the presence of negation in the initial statement.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Conceptual clarification

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts to apply DeMorgan's Law but is uncertain about how to proceed with the negation. Some participants suggest using truth tables and equivalences related to implications and quantifiers.

Discussion Status

Participants are exploring various approaches to tackle the proof, including references to logical equivalences and the need for clarification on the specific Natural Deduction system being used. There is no explicit consensus on a single method yet.

Contextual Notes

The original poster mentions a struggle with the initial step of the proof and indicates that they have been attempting to resolve this for several hours. There is an implied need for more information about the rules of inference available in their Natural Deduction system.

LauraSuh
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Hello smart people!
I was having some troubles proving this derived rule using Natural deduction:

¬(∃y.Q(y) ∧ T(y))
------------------------
∀x.Q(x) → ¬ T(x)

I got stuck in the very first line, because of the "NOT". I can't do anything if I don't take it out of there...

I know that ¬(a ∧ b) = ¬a ∨ ¬b, but I don't know how to prove that as well...

If I could only get past this very first step I'd be able to finish it, but I've been trying for hours and I can't get around it.
Please help!
 
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To prove DeMorgan's Law, you might want to write out a truth table.
 
It's also helpful to note that:

p \implies q \equiv \neg p \vee q
 
I would use the identity

##\exists x \phi\equiv \neg\forall x\neg\phi## together with the theorem ##\neg\neg\phi\leftrightarrow\phi## and then de Morgan's Law.

If you need more help you will need to specify which Natural Deduction system you are using. There are many. To specify yours you need to list all the rules of inference and replacement rules you have available to you.
 

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