Given:
- Every student has an email account
- Maggie does not have an email account
- Homer is a student
Using E(x): x has an email, S(x): x is a student and M to represent Maggie while H represents Homer, I came up with the following premises:
- 1: ∀x[S(x)→E(x)]
- 2: ¬E(M)
- 3: S(H)
I then have to determine if the two following conclusions are valid. The first conclusion:
- Maggie is not a student
I determined this not a valid conclusion because you can only reach it by using the 'denying the antecedent' fallacy. Is this correct?
The second conclusion:
- Homer does not have an email account
I came to the verdict that this is not a valid conclusion by:
- ∀x[S(x)→E(x)] (Premise)
- S(H) (Premise)
- S(H) --> E(H) (UI and 2nd premise)
- E(H) (Modus ponen applied to (2) and (3).
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks