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ISBN: 978-1-944931-09-4

Note To Reader
Welcome to this guide on LOGICAL
REASONING!
Here you will find some powerful ideas
for engaging in mathematical thinking
and logical reasoning, accompanied
with practice materials galore to try out
ideas and sharpen your wits.
But this is not a textbook!
We certainly talk about mathematical
ideas in detail, but our discussions will
be swift. We are assuming that you
have already seen most of this material
in school, so this book is here to help
you catch and grasp technical details
so as to learn how to engage in clever
ways of thinking. This book will help
you solve challenging mathematics
problems.

We have over 70 problems to try, along

with an abundance of practice
examples. You can, if you like, start this
book by just trying the problems without
reading the text and see how it goes.
You can then read the sections you feel
you need to read. Or you can start at
the front of this book and work your
way through it to the end. Use this
guide in any way that feels good to you!
Of course, feel free to talk to someone
or to look at school textbooks on this
material if you want to take a step back
and review material more slowly. There
is absolutely no rush to work through
this guide.

When you are ready, look at

edfinity.com/catalog for many more
practice problems to try. There is so
much fun to be had!
Are you hoping to try some
competitions? If so, make sure to read
8 Tips to Solve Any Problem in the Zen

Masters Series, for students grades 58. This is the must-read introduction to
solving competition problems. This
guide is going to assume you are
familiar with the strategies and advice
we go through there.
Okay! Without further ado, lets get
started!

James Tanton
March 2016

Acknowledgements
My deepest thanks and appreciation to
Michael Pearson, Executive Director of
the Mathematical Association of
America, for setting me on the path of
joyous mathematical problem solving
with the MAA Curriculum Inspirations
project, and to Shivram Venkat at
Edfinity for inviting me to extend that
wonderful work to the global community
of younger budding mathematicians. I
am so very honored to be part of the
unique, and truly remarkable, digital
format experience Shivram and Edfinity
have developed for the world.

James Tanton
January, 2016

Edfinitys Zen Masters Series

Edfinitys Zen Masters series is a
collection of 11 digital titles (6 for
Middle School and 5 for High School)
created for the modern educator and
student. The titles are available only in
digital form and consist of carefully
crafted problem collections designed to
help students master problem solving.
Each title guides students through the
themes of a specific topic (such as
Algebra or Probability), presenting
concise expository content, select
examples illustrating specific problem
solving techniques, and between 150200 problems expertly arranged to help
the user achieve complete mastery.
The volumes are each accompanied
with optional access to an Edfinity
digital companion presenting all the

problems in the title as a self-paced,

online course with auto-grading and
performance analysis. Educators may
enroll their students to track their
progress, or students/parents may
enroll individually. Access to the guides
provides educators access to rich,
supplemental problem collections for
classroom use.
The Zen Masters Series is designed to
serve broad usage by educators and
students alike, offering substantive
general enrichment, development of
foundational skills in problem solving,
and contest preparation. In addition to
helping students prepare effectively for
local and major international contests,
the problems provide robust attention to
standards and guidelines of the
Common Core State Standards in

Mathematics (USA), GCSE (UK),

Singapores Math curriculum,
Australian Curriculum, and most other
international syllabi.

ZEN MASTERS MIDDLE SCHOOL

SERIES
8 Tips to Solve Any Problem, by James
Tanton
Counting and Probability, by James
Tanton
Numbers and the Number System, by
James Tanton
Structure, Patterns and Logic, by
James Tanton
Relationships and Equations, by James
Tanton
Geometry, by James Tanton
Solutions Manual for each title by
James Tanton

ZEN MASTERS HIGH SCHOOL SERIES

Algebra, by David Wells
Geometry, by David Wells
Number Theory, by David Wells
Discrete Mathematics, by David Wells
Advanced Topics, by David Wells
Solutions Manual for each title by David
Wells
Enroll at edfinity.com/catalog.

1. Logical Statements
STATEMENTS WITH TRUTH VALUES:
Some statements can be definitively
deemed to be TRUE or definitively
deemed to be FALSE. For example,
Liquid water is wet is a TRUE
statement.
4 + 3 = 12

is a FALSE statement

No human has 7 legs

statement.

is a TRUE

For some statements, their truth values

might depend on their context.
Suzzie is the tallest person in the
room.
The truth of this statement
depends on who is currently
in the room.

x + 3 = 8.

The truth of this statement

depends on what x happens
to be. If its value is 5 , then
x + 3 = 8 is a true statement. If
its value is not 5 , then x + 3 = 8
is false.
Ducks say moo.
If we are talking about talking
ducks portrayed in a cartoon,
for example, this might be
considered a true statement.
Context really is important! For
example, the statement 4 + 3 = 12 is
TRUE if I tell you I was actually thinking
in base five rather than base ten. (In
base five, 12 corresponds to the
number 1 5 + 2 1 which is, indeed 7 .)

Discussion about the truth or falsehood

of statements always relies on some
agreed about assumptions. As another
example, the statement 7 is a multiple
of 3 is a TRUE statement in the
context of real number arithmetic (we
have 7 = 3 2.3333...) and FALSE in the
context of whole number arithmetic.
For some statements, assigning a truth
value is not appropriate. Consider, for
example:
Fetch me some lunch. This is a
(rude) command and there is no truth
value to assign to it.
Why is the sky blue? This is a
question and there is no truth value to
assign to it.
And some statements are just logically
problematic about their possible truth

value! The classic example of such a

statement is:
This sentence is false.
If we think this sentence is FALSE,
then what the sentence is saying is
true, so we are wrong to think it is
false.
If we think the sentence is TRUE,
then what it is saying is the truth.
But the sentence says that it is false
and so we are wrong to think it is
true.
Whatever truth value we think the
sentence has logic tells us that we
are wrong!
Question: The statement
This sentence is true

is problematic too, but in a different

way. (Could this sentence be TRUE?
Could this sentence be FALSE? Think
about it!)
PROBLEM 1: Here are four statements. Each
statement refers to the list of statements in italics.

Exactly one of these statements is false.
Exactly two of these statements are false.
Exactly three of these statements are false.
All four of these statements are false.

Which of these four statements could possibly be
true?
e

When looking at problems that contain

lists of statements, some true, some
false, it is often helpful to:
FOCUS ON THE CONTRADICTORY
STATEMENTS, THE STATEMENTS THAT
CANT BE SIMULTANEOUSLY TRUE.

PRACTICE EXAMPLE: Four boxes each contain a

piece of fruit with just one holding a banana. Two
boxes are fairly small and are the same size. One
box is of medium size and one box is large. We are
also told that at most one of the following
statements is true:

One of the small boxes holds the banana.
The banana is not in the large box.
The banana is in the medium box.

Do we know the size of the box containing the
banana?

Answer: Statements (A) and (C) cant

both be true.
If one of them is true, then the banana
is either in a small box or the medium
box, making statement (B) true as well.
But we dont have two true statements.
So it must be that (A) and (C) are both
false, forcing us to conclude that the
banana is in the large box. (And so (B)
is false as well).

PROBLEM 2: I am thinking of a two-digit number

(written in base ten). Precisely one of the following
statements about my number is false. What is my
two-digit number?

(A) Both digits of my number are odd
numbers.
(B) The sum of digits of my number is a single
digit.
(C) One of the digits of my number is 4 .
(D) The two digits of my number are the
same.
(E) My two-digit number is even.
e
PROBLEM 3:
Albert says Bilbert is lying.
Bilbert says that Albert is lying.

How many people are lying?
(A) They are both lying
(B) One is lying and the other speaks the
truth.
(C) Neither is lying.
(D) It is impossible to determine.
e

e indicates problem is available online at

edfinity.com/catalog.

CONDITIONAL STATEMENTS
Many statements, in fact, most
statements in mathematics are of the
form:
If one thing is true, then this next
thing is true.
For example:
If the figure is a rectangle, then
opposite sides of the figure have the
same lengths.
If x + 4 = 7 , then x = 3.
If a , b , and c the side-lengths of a
right triangle with c the length of the
hypotenuse, then a 2 + b2 = c 2 .
are three mathematics statements of
this type.

DEFINITION.
ANY STATEMENT OF THE FORM IF , THEN
IS CALLED A CONDITIONAL STATEMENT.
(THE FINAL PART OF THE STATEMENT IS TRUE
ON THE CONDITION THAT THE INITIAL PART OF
THE STATEMENT IS TRUE.)

Here are some non-mathematical

examples of conditional statements:
If Lashana lives in Los Angeles,
then she lives in California.
If I am sad, then I eat ice cream.
If it is Tuesday, then I must be in
Belgium.
Warning!
Conditional statements need not be
true.

If a polygon has four sides, then it is

a triangle.
This is statement is FALSE.
If a number is divisible by 5 , then it
ends with a 7 .
This is statement is FALSE.
If 4x = 20 , then x = 3.
Also FALSE.
If x 2 = 100 , then x = 10 .
This is also FALSE as x could be
10 instead.
[Notice that the statement: If x 2 = 100 ,
then x = 10 or 10 , is TRUE.]

Some conditional statements come in

disguise. For example,
All squares are rectangles
is really the conditional statement: If a
figure is a square, then it is a rectangle.
And:
All poodles are dogs
is really the conditional statement: If an
animal is a poodle, then it is a dog.
STATEMENTS THAT USE THE WORD ALL ARE
USUALLY CONDITIONAL STATEMENTS IN
DISGUISE.

Sometimes sentences with the word

no or not can be interpreted as
conditional statements too. For
example, the sentence:
No frog is blue

is really the statement: If an animal is a

frog, then it is not blue.
PRACTICE EXAMPLE: Rewrite the following
sentences as conditional statements
a)All men are mortal
b)All crows are black
c) No Australian is wicked

Rewrite the following sentences using the word
all:

d)If a man is over six feet tall, then he has big
feet.
e) If I stay awake all night, then I am cranky the
next day.
[The word every might be easier to use than
all here.]

Answer: Something like the following

work (though they are awkward to
say!):
a) If an entity is a man, then that
entity is mortal.
b) If a bird is a crow, then that bird
is black.

c) If this person is Australian, then

she or he is not wicked.
d) All men over six feet tall have big
feet.
e) Every time I am awake all night I
am cranky the next day.

CONVERSE STATEMENTS
The backwards versions of conditional
statements need not be true. For
example:
If I own a dog, then I own a pet with
four legs
is TRUE (assuming we are working
within the context of healthy dogs), but
the backwards version of this
statement:
If I own a pet with four legs, then I
own a dog
is not true. One could own a cat or a
turtle or a wombat, for instance.

DEFINITION.
THE BACKWARDS VERSION OF A CONDITIONAL
STATEMENT IS CALLED ITS CONVERSE.

STATEMENT:
CONVERSE:

If p, then q.
If q, then p.

The converse of a statement might, or

might not, be true.
EXAMPLE:
If a number ends with a zero, then it is
divisible by ten is TRUE.
If a number is divisible by ten, then it
ends with a zero is also TRUE.
EXAMPLE:
If a figure is a square, then it is a
rectangle is TRUE.

If a figure is a rectangle, then it is a

square is FALSE.
THE CONVERSE OF ANY STATEMENT REQUIRES
ITS OWN ANALYSIS AND JUSTIFICATION. ITS
VALIDITY IS NOT GUARANTEED

Dont fall into the trap of believing that

converses are always true.
PRACTICE EXAMPLE: Which of the following
statements are true? Which have converses that
happen to be true?
a)If a bird is a crow, then it is black.
b)If a number is divisible by 5, then its final digit
is 5.
c) If a figure is a rectangle, then it is a square.
d)If a figure has three sides, then it is a triangle.
e) If N is even, then N + 1 is odd.
f) If Beatrice lives in Australia, then she lives in
Sydney.

Answer: a) The statement is TRUE,

but its converse is FALSE.
b) The statement is FALSE, but its
converse is TRUE.
c) The statement is FALSE, but its
converse is TRUE.
d) The statement is TRUE, and its
converse is TRUE.
e) The statement is TRUE, and its
converse is TRUE.
f) The statement is FALSE, and its
converse is FALSE. (She could live in
Sydney, Nova Scotia.)

EULER DIAGRAMS
Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler
(1707-1783; pronunciation oil-er)
developed the following very simple
method for analyzing conditional
statements. It is best illustrated with an
example.
Consider the statement:
All poodles are dogs.
This is simply stating that the set of all
poodles lies inside the set of all dogs.
This can be represented via a set
diagram:

The statement:
If a figure is a square, then it is a
rectangle.
can be represented:

ANY SUCH DIAGRAM REPRESENTING A

CONDITIONAL STATEMENT IS CALLED AN EULER
DIAGRAM.

PRACTICE EXAMPLE:
a) Draw an Euler diagram for the statement: All
Australians are cheery.
b) Jake is Australian. Can we conclude anything
definitive about his disposition?
c) Lucy is cheery. Can we conclude that she is
Australian?
d) Jane is Korean. What, if anything definitive,
can we conclude?
e) Grizelda Bumblesnort is not cheery. What, if
anything, can we conclude?

Answer: a) Heres the Euler diagram:

b) Where does Jake sit in this picture?

Inside the set of Australians. Thus we
can conclude that he is in the set of
cheery people and so is cheery.

c) Where does Lucy sit in this picture?

Somewhere in the set of cheery people.
But we do not know whether or not she
sits within the set of Australians, so we
cannot make any conclusions about her
nationality.
d) Where does Jane sit in this picture?
Somewhere outside the set of
Australians. She might be inside the set
of cheery people or she might not. We
can make no conclusion about her
state of happiness.
e) Where does Grizelda sit in this
picture? Outside the set of cheery
people. Thus, she is also outside the
set of Australians. We can definitely
conclude that Grizelda is NOT
Australian.

PRACTICE EXAMPLE: Allistaire makes the

following argument:
All Mexican butterflies are blue.
That butterfly is blue.
Therefore
That butterfly is a Mexican butterfly.

Is his argument valid?

Answer: No! Draw an Euler diagram

for the statement: All Mexican
butterflies are blue. It is possible for a
butterfly to be in the set of blue
butterflies without being in the subset of
Mexican butterflies.

THE CONTRAPOSITIVE
Heres an unusual statement:
If it is not a floogle, then it is not a
woogle.
Which of the following could be an
Euler diagram for this statement?

Do you see that c), and only c), fits the

bill?

Comment: There is one more diagram

that could work, namely, the one for
which the set of woogles equals the set
of floogles:

But, in some sense, this is a special

case of c) with the set of woogles so
big that it completely fills the set of
floogles.
We see that the statement:
If it is not a floogle, then it is not
a woogle.
has the same Euler diagram as:
If it is a woogle, then it is a
floogle.

and so is logically equivalent to it.

More generally, consider a conditional

statement:
If p, then q.
It has the Euler Diagram:

and it is clear again from the diagram

that is something is not q then it is
certainly not p. This variation of an If

then statement is called its

contrapositive.
STATEMENT:
CONTRAPOSITIVE:

If p, then q.
If not q, then
not p.

THE CONTRAPOSITIVE OF A
STATEMENT IS LOGICALLY
EQUIVALENT TO THE ORIGINAL
STATEMENT. THEY HAVE THE SAME
EULER DIAGRAMS.

The statement:
If Jim lives in New Jersey, then he
lives in the U.S.
is TRUE. Its contrapositive is sure to be
true as well.
If Jim does not live in the U.S., then
he does not live in New Jersey.

SOMETIMES IT IS EASIER TO THINK

ABOUT THE CONTRAPOSITIVE OF A
STATEMENT, RATHER THAN THE
STATEMENT ITSELF. THAT IS, START
WITH THE CONCULSION OF THE
STATEMENT AND ASK ABOUT ITS
OPPOSITE.

PRACTICE EXAMPLE: John thought of a counting

number and squared it. The answer he got was
odd. Does this mean that his original number was
odd as well?

Answer: John thought of a number N

and squared it to get N 2 . We are told
that N 2 is odd and we are wondering if
that means that N itself was odd. That
is, we are wondering if the statement:
If N 2 is odd, then N is odd is true?
Lets start with the conclusion of this
statement and ask about its opposite:

Could N be even?
If N is even, then N 2 is an even number
multiplied by itself, and so is even. (See
the next chapter for an explanation why
multiplying two even numbers is sure to
be even.) That is, if N is even, then N 2
is even, and not odd as we want. So,
could N be even? NO!
It must be true then that Johns original
number is odd.
SOMETIMES WHEN WONDERING
WHETHER A CONDITIONAL
STATEMENT IS TRUE, IT IS GOOD TO
THINK ABOUT ITS CONTRAPOSITIVE
TOO TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE
COVERED ALL THE POSSIBILITIES.

PRACTICE EXAMPLE: Four cards have the

property that each is either red or orange on one
side and blue or purple on the other side. The four
cards are laid out on a table and you see each

color showing as a face.

What is the smallest number of cards you need to

turn over in order to test whether or not the
statement:
If a card is red on one side, it is sure to be
purple on the other side
is a true statement?

Answer: We certainly need to turn over

the card with the red face showing to
make sure its reverse side is purple.
Any other cards?

The contrapositive of the statement we

are testing reads: If a card is not purple
(and hence blue) on one side, then it is
not red on the other. This is logically
equivalent to the original statement and
needs to be tested too. That is, we
need to turn over the card with the blue
face showing and make sure its reverse
side is not red (that is, is orange).
We need not turn over any other card
(we dont care about the color on the
reverse side of the orange face, nor the
color on the reverse side of the purple
face).
Thus we need to turn over two cards.

Comment
Another approach to questions like
these is to consider each card in turn
and simply ask: Is turning over this
card helpful?
Will turning over the red card be
helpful? YES. We need to make
sure its reverse side is purple.
Will turning over the orange card be
helpful? NO. It doesnt matter if its
reverse side is blue or purple.
Will turning over the blue card be
helpful? YES. We need to make
sure its reverse side isnt red.
Will turning over the purple card be
helpful? NO.

PROBLEM 4: Six cards are lying on a table top as

shown. Each card has a letter of the alphabet on
one side and a positive whole number on the other.

What is the least number of cards we must turn
over in order to test the validity of the following
statement?

If a card has an odd number on one side, it has a
vowel on its reverse side.
e

PROBLEM 5: Our dog always runs into the

bedroom and hides under the bed when it rains
and stays there until the rain stops. Which of the
following statements are valid conclusions?

I: If I see our dog hiding under the bed, it must
be raining.
II: If it is raining, Ill find my dog under the
bed.
III: If our dog is not hiding under the bed, it is not
raining.
e

COUNTER EXAMPLES
We have already seen that conditional
statements can be false.
A COUNTER EXAMPLE TO A CONDITIONAL
STATEMENT IS ANY SPECIFIC EXAMPLE TO
SHOW THAT THE CONDITIONAL CLAIM IS
INCORRECT.

EXAMPLE: The statement:

If a whole number ends in a 4 , then
it is divisible by 4 .
is FALSE because the number 14
provides a counter example: it ends in
a 4 but is not divisible by 4 .
EXAMPLE: The statement:
If a b = 0 , then a = 0

is FALSE because a = 3 and b = 0

provides a counter example. It shows
that the premise can be true
( 3 0 is indeed zero) with the conclusion
not necessarily following ( 3 does not
equal zero).
EXAMPLE: The statement:
All Australians live in Sydney
is FALSE because any person living in
Perth, say, provides a counter example.
PRACTICE EXAMPLE: Give a counter example to
each of the following statements to show that they
are each false:
a) If x 2 = 9 , then x = 3.
b) If ab < 0 , then a < 0 .
c) If 5n = n2 , then n = 5 .
d) If a number is divisible by 5 , then its final
digit is a five.
e) If N is even, then N is divisible by 4 .
f) If x 2 > 4 , then x > 2 .

Answer: a) x = 3 b) a = 9 and b = 4
c) n = 0 d) 20 e) 22 f) x = 3.
(OPTIONAL) PROBLEM 6: Starting with the
number 1 Tracy produces the sequence of
doubling numbers with each number in the list
double the one just before it:

1,2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024,2048,4096,8192,

(She uses a calculator to help with the

arithmetic.)
Tracy notices that none of the doubling numbers
she sees begins with a 7 . She tested this
observation by computing the first thirty doubling
numbers: none begin with the number 7 .

Prove that no doubling number ever begins with a
7 , or prove that this assertion is FALSE.
e