CONSTRUCTING

FORMAL PROOFS USING

THE NINETEEN RULES OF
INFERENCE
RULES OF INFERENCE
The rules that permit valid inferences from
statements assumed as premises.

9 rules on Elementary Valid Argument Form

10 rules on Logically Equivalent Expressions
1. A B
2. C ~B
A ~C
TRANSPOSITION (Trans.)
p q (~q ~p)
T

3. ~~B ~C 2, Trans. DOUBLE NEGATION (D.N.)

HYPOTHETICAL SYLLOGISM
p ~~p
T

4. B ~C 3, D.N. (H.S.)
pq
5. A ~C 1,4, H.S. qr
pr
1. A ~B
2. ~(C ~A) DE MORGANS THEOREMS
C ~B (De M.)
~(p v q) (~p ~q)
T

3. ~C v ~~A 2, De M. MATERIAL IMPLICATION(Impl.)

(p q) (~p v q)
T

4. C ~~A 3, Impl. DOUBLE NEGATION (D.N.)

HYPOTHETICAL
p ~~p
T
SYLLOGISM
5. C A 4, D.N. (H.S.)
pq
6. C ~B 5,1, H.S. qr
pr
Success requires mastery of the rules of
inference. Having the list of rules before
one will probably not be sufficient. One
must be able to call on the rule from
within as the proofs are being devised.
The ability to do this will grow rapidly with
practice, and yields many satisfactions.
1. ~A
AB ADDITION (Add.)
p
pvq
2. ~A v B 1, Add. MATERIAL IMPLICATION(Impl.)
(p q) (~p v q)
T

3. A B 2, Impl.