CHAPTER 1

SPEAKING MATHEMATICALLY
The aim of the course is to introduce you to a mathematical way of thinking that
can serve you in a wide variety of situations. Often when you start work on a
mathematical problem, you may have only a vague sense of how to proceed. You may
begin by looking at examples, drawing pictures, playing around with notation,
rereading the problem to focus on more of its details, and so forth. The closer you get
to a solution, however, the more your thinking has to crystallize. And the more you need
to understand, the more you need language that expresses mathematical ideas clearly,
precisely, and unambiguously.

This chapter will introduce you to some of the special language that is a foundation
for much mathematical thought, the language of variables, sets, relations, and functions.
Think of the chapter like the exercises you would do before an important sporting event.
Its goal is to warm up your mental muscles so that you can do your best.

1.1 Variables
A variable is sometimes thought of as a mathematical “John Doe” because you can use it
as a placeholder when you want to talk about something but either (1) you imagine that it
has one or more values but you don’t know what they are, or (2) you want whatever you
say about it to be equally true for all elements in a given set, and so you don’t want to be
restricted to considering only a particular, concrete value for it. To illustrate the first use,
consider asking
Is there a number with the following property: doubling it and adding 3
gives the same result as squaring it?
In this sentence you can introduce a variable to replace the potentially ambiguous word “it”:

Is there a number x with the property that 2x + 3 = x 2 ?

The advantage of using a variable is that it allows you to give a temporary name to what
you are seeking so that you can perform concrete computations with it to help discover its
possible values. To emphasize the role of the variable as a placeholder, you might write
the following:

Is there a number  with the property that 2·  + 3 = 2 ?

The emptiness of the box can help you imagine filling it in with a variety of different
values, some of which might make the two sides equal and others of which might not.
1
2 Chapter 1 Speaking Mathematically

To illustrate the second use of variables, consider the statement:

No matter what number might be chosen, if it is greater than 2,
then its square is greater than 4.
In this case introducing a variable to give a temporary name to the (arbitrary) number you
might choose enables you to maintain the generality of the statement, and replacing all
instances of the word “it” by the name of the variable ensures that possible ambiguity is
avoided:
No matter what number n might be chosen, if n is greater than 2,
then n 2 is greater than 4.

Example 1.1.1 Writing Sentences Using Variables

Use variables to rewrite the following sentences more formally.
a. Are there numbers with the property that the sum of their squares equals the square of
their sum?
b. Given any real number, its square is nonnegative.
Solution
Note In part (a) the a. Are there numbers a and b with the property that a 2 + b2 = (a + b)2 ?
answer is yes. For Or: Are there numbers a and b such that a 2 + b2 = (a + b)2 ?
instance, a = 1 and b = 0 Or: Do there exist any numbers a and b such that a 2 + b2 = (a + b)2 ?
would work. Can you
think of other numbers b. Given any real number r, r 2 is nonnegative.
that would also work?
Or: For any real number r, r 2 ≥ 0.
Or: For all real numbers r, r 2 ≥ 0. ■

Some Important Kinds of Mathematical Statements

Three of the most important kinds of sentences in mathematics are universal statements,
conditional statements, and existential statements:

A universal statement says that a certain property is true for all elements in a set.
(For example: All positive numbers are greater than zero.)
A conditional statement says that if one thing is true then some other thing also has
to be true. (For example: If 378 is divisible by 18, then 378 is divisible by 6.)
Given a property that may or may not be true, an existential statement says that
there is at least one thing for which the property is true. (For example: There is a
prime number that is even.)

In later sections we will define each kind of statement carefully and discuss all of them
in detail. The aim here is for you to realize that combinations of these statements can be
expressed in a variety of different ways. One way uses ordinary, everyday language and
another expresses the statement using one or more variables. The exercises are designed
to help you start becoming comfortable in translating from one way to another.
 1.1 Variables 3

Universal Conditional Statements

Universal statements contain some variation of the words “for all” and conditional state-
ments contain versions of the words “if-then.” A universal conditional statement is a
statement that is both universal and conditional. Here is an example:
For all animals a, if a is a dog, then a is a mammal.
One of the most important facts about universal conditional statements is that they can
be rewritten in ways that make them appear to be purely universal or purely conditional.
For example, the previous statement can be rewritten in a way that makes its conditional
nature explicit but its universal nature implicit:
If a is a dog, then a is a mammal.
Or : If an animal is a dog, then the animal is a mammal.
The statement can also be expressed so as to make its universal nature explicit and its
conditional nature implicit:
For all dogs a, a is a mammal.
Or : All dogs are mammals.
The crucial point is that the ability to translate among various ways of expressing univer-
sal conditional statements is enormously useful for doing mathematics and many parts of
computer science.

Example 1.1.2 Rewriting a Universal Conditional Statement

Fill in the blanks to rewrite the following statement:
For all real numbers x, if x is nonzero then x 2 is positive.
a. If a real number is nonzero, then its square .
Note If you introduce x b. For all nonzero real numbers x, .
in the first part of the
sentence, be sure to c. If x , then .
include it in the second
part of the sentence. d. The square of any nonzero real number is .
e. All nonzero real numbers have .
Solution
a. is positive
b. x 2 is positive
c. is a nonzero real number; x 2 is positive
d. positive
e. positive squares (or: squares that are positive) ■

Universal Existential Statements

A universal existential statement is a statement that is universal because its first part says
that a certain property is true for all objects of a given type, and it is existential because
Note For a number b to its second part asserts the existence of something. For example:
be an additive inverse for
a number a means that
a + b = 0. Every real number has an additive inverse.
4 Chapter 1 Speaking Mathematically

In this statement the property “has an additive inverse” applies universally to all real num-
bers. “Has an additive inverse” asserts the existence of something—an additive inverse—
for each real number. However, the nature of the additive inverse depends on the real
number; different real numbers have different additive inverses. Knowing that an additive
inverse is a real number, you can rewrite this statement in several ways, some less formal
and some more formal∗ :
All real numbers have additive inverses.
Or : For all real numbers r , there is an additive inverse for r .
Or : For all real numbers r, there is a real number s such that s is an additive inverse
for r.
Introducing names for the variables simplifies references in further discussion. For
instance, after the third version of the statement you might go on to write: When r is
positive, s is negative, when r is negative, s is positive, and when r is zero, s is also zero.
One of the most important reasons for using variables in mathematics is that it gives
you the ability to refer to quantities unambiguously throughout a lengthy mathematical
argument, while not restricting you to consider only specific values for them.

Example 1.1.3 Rewriting a Universal Existential Statement

Fill in the blanks to rewrite the following statement: Every pot has a lid.
a. All pots .
b. For all pots P, there is .
c. For all pots P, there is a lid L such that .
Solution
a. have lids
b. a lid for P
c. L is a lid for P ■

Existential Universal Statements

An existential universal statement is a statement that is existential because its first part
asserts that a certain object exists and is universal because its second part says that the
object satisfies a certain property for all things of a certain kind. For example:
There is a positive integer that is less than or equal to every positive integer:
This statement is true because the number one is a positive integer, and it satisfies the
property of being less than or equal to every positive integer. We can rewrite the statement
in several ways, some less formal and some more formal:
Some positive integer is less than or equal to every positive integer.
Or : There is a positive integer m that is less than or equal to every positive integer.
Or : There is a positive integer m such that every positive integer is greater than or
equal to m.
Or : There is a positive integer m with the property that for all positive integers
n, m ≤ n.

∗
A conditional could be used to help express this statement, but we postpone the additional com-
plexity to a later chapter.
 1.1 Variables 5

Example 1.1.4 Rewriting an Existential Universal Statement

Fill in the blanks to rewrite the following statement in three different ways:
There is a person in my class who is at least as old as every person in my class.
a. Some is at least as old as .
b. There is a person p in my class such that p is .
c. There is a person p in my class with the property that for every person q in my class,
p is .
Solution
a. person in my class; every person in my class
b. at least as old as every person in my class
c. at least as old as q ■

Some of the most important mathematical concepts, such as the definition of limit of
a sequence, can only be defined using phrases that are universal, existential, and condi-
tional, and they require the use of all three phrases “for all,” “there is,” and “if-then.” For
example, if a1 , a2 , a3 , . . . is a sequence of real numbers, saying that
the limit of an as n approaches infinity is L
means that
for all positive real numbers ε, there is an integer N such that
for all integers n, if n > N then −ε < an − L < ε.