Why is “Some men have brown hair” $exists x(M(x) wedge B(x))$ but “All men have brown hair” isn't...












0














As the title says, I'm not sure why "Some men have with brown hair" is $exists x(M(x) wedge B(x))$, but "All men have brown hair" isn't $forall x(M(x) wedge B(x))$?



Doesn't $forall x(M(x) wedge B(x))$ read as "For every $x$, $x$ is a man and $x$ has brown hair?" In other words all men have brown hair.



I'm aware that the correct statement is $forall x(M(x) Rightarrow B(x))$, which reads as "For every $x$, if $x$ is a man, then $x$ has brown hair."



$M(x)$ means "$x$ is a man", and $B(x)$ means "$x$ has brown hair."










share|cite|improve this question




















  • 2




    That depends on what your domain is. If your domain is the set of all people then the statement $forall xleft( M(x)wedge B(x)right)$ translates as "Every person is a male with brown hair." You have seemingly ignored the possibilities of females being present too.
    – JMoravitz
    Nov 26 '18 at 6:14


















0














As the title says, I'm not sure why "Some men have with brown hair" is $exists x(M(x) wedge B(x))$, but "All men have brown hair" isn't $forall x(M(x) wedge B(x))$?



Doesn't $forall x(M(x) wedge B(x))$ read as "For every $x$, $x$ is a man and $x$ has brown hair?" In other words all men have brown hair.



I'm aware that the correct statement is $forall x(M(x) Rightarrow B(x))$, which reads as "For every $x$, if $x$ is a man, then $x$ has brown hair."



$M(x)$ means "$x$ is a man", and $B(x)$ means "$x$ has brown hair."










share|cite|improve this question




















  • 2




    That depends on what your domain is. If your domain is the set of all people then the statement $forall xleft( M(x)wedge B(x)right)$ translates as "Every person is a male with brown hair." You have seemingly ignored the possibilities of females being present too.
    – JMoravitz
    Nov 26 '18 at 6:14
















0












0








0







As the title says, I'm not sure why "Some men have with brown hair" is $exists x(M(x) wedge B(x))$, but "All men have brown hair" isn't $forall x(M(x) wedge B(x))$?



Doesn't $forall x(M(x) wedge B(x))$ read as "For every $x$, $x$ is a man and $x$ has brown hair?" In other words all men have brown hair.



I'm aware that the correct statement is $forall x(M(x) Rightarrow B(x))$, which reads as "For every $x$, if $x$ is a man, then $x$ has brown hair."



$M(x)$ means "$x$ is a man", and $B(x)$ means "$x$ has brown hair."










share|cite|improve this question















As the title says, I'm not sure why "Some men have with brown hair" is $exists x(M(x) wedge B(x))$, but "All men have brown hair" isn't $forall x(M(x) wedge B(x))$?



Doesn't $forall x(M(x) wedge B(x))$ read as "For every $x$, $x$ is a man and $x$ has brown hair?" In other words all men have brown hair.



I'm aware that the correct statement is $forall x(M(x) Rightarrow B(x))$, which reads as "For every $x$, if $x$ is a man, then $x$ has brown hair."



$M(x)$ means "$x$ is a man", and $B(x)$ means "$x$ has brown hair."







logic






share|cite|improve this question















share|cite|improve this question













share|cite|improve this question




share|cite|improve this question








edited Nov 26 '18 at 6:23









Eevee Trainer

4,7001634




4,7001634










asked Nov 26 '18 at 6:07









000

154




154








  • 2




    That depends on what your domain is. If your domain is the set of all people then the statement $forall xleft( M(x)wedge B(x)right)$ translates as "Every person is a male with brown hair." You have seemingly ignored the possibilities of females being present too.
    – JMoravitz
    Nov 26 '18 at 6:14
















  • 2




    That depends on what your domain is. If your domain is the set of all people then the statement $forall xleft( M(x)wedge B(x)right)$ translates as "Every person is a male with brown hair." You have seemingly ignored the possibilities of females being present too.
    – JMoravitz
    Nov 26 '18 at 6:14










2




2




That depends on what your domain is. If your domain is the set of all people then the statement $forall xleft( M(x)wedge B(x)right)$ translates as "Every person is a male with brown hair." You have seemingly ignored the possibilities of females being present too.
– JMoravitz
Nov 26 '18 at 6:14






That depends on what your domain is. If your domain is the set of all people then the statement $forall xleft( M(x)wedge B(x)right)$ translates as "Every person is a male with brown hair." You have seemingly ignored the possibilities of females being present too.
– JMoravitz
Nov 26 '18 at 6:14












2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















2














It seems like you want to read $forall x (M(x)wedge B(x))$ as saying




For all men $x$, it is true that $x$ has brown hair.




Which is different from the following statement:




For all $x$, it is true that $x$ is a man and has brown hair.




The difference is that, in the first statement, $x$ is necessarily a man. In the second statement, we could take $x$ to be a rock*, and we would claim that it is a man with brown hair. The symbol "$forall x$" means that, no matter what we take $x$ to be, the following statement is true of it.



A common thing to write, however, to express the first statement is
$$forall xin M(B(x))$$
where $M$ is the set of all men; this means that we restrict the choice of $x$ to be within this set - although this is the same as
$$forall x(M(x)rightarrow B(x)).$$



(*Of course, when working in logic, there's generally a well-defined sense of what $x$ could be - but here, unless $M(x)$ is true of every $x$, the statements are not interchangeable - and, speaking informally, it's unlikely that $x$ is implicitly understood to be a man)






share|cite|improve this answer





























    0














    It's ultimately a matter of what you're trying to imply.



    To say there are some men with brown hair means that both conditions hold true; there exists a person who is both male ($M(x)$) and has brown hair ($B(x)$).



    However, think about what it says to say "all men have brown hair." "All men have" is basically saying "$M(x) Rightarrow text{(something)}$". To say "all men have" something is making an ever-so-subtle assumption that being a man implies something.



    Another problem with the use of the "and" operator here is the subtle assumption that the $x$'s you're dealing with are people. To say "$forall x, M(x) wedge B(x)$" makes the implication that all people ($x$) are both male ($M(x)$) and have brown hair ($B(x)$). However, we know there are also women among the $x$'s, so that doesn't work out does it?



    It's not as overt as saying "$x$ implies $y$," and in the nuances of the English one would look at them as being logically equivalent; it took me a while to even notice myself the nuance. This is probably where your confusion comes from.






    share|cite|improve this answer





















      Your Answer





      StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
      return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
      StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
      StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
      });
      });
      }, "mathjax-editing");

      StackExchange.ready(function() {
      var channelOptions = {
      tags: "".split(" "),
      id: "69"
      };
      initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

      StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
      // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
      if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
      StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
      createEditor();
      });
      }
      else {
      createEditor();
      }
      });

      function createEditor() {
      StackExchange.prepareEditor({
      heartbeatType: 'answer',
      autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
      convertImagesToLinks: true,
      noModals: true,
      showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
      reputationToPostImages: 10,
      bindNavPrevention: true,
      postfix: "",
      imageUploader: {
      brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
      contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
      allowUrls: true
      },
      noCode: true, onDemand: true,
      discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
      ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
      });


      }
      });














      draft saved

      draft discarded


















      StackExchange.ready(
      function () {
      StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3013909%2fwhy-is-some-men-have-brown-hair-exists-xmx-wedge-bx-but-all-men-hav%23new-answer', 'question_page');
      }
      );

      Post as a guest















      Required, but never shown

























      2 Answers
      2






      active

      oldest

      votes








      2 Answers
      2






      active

      oldest

      votes









      active

      oldest

      votes






      active

      oldest

      votes









      2














      It seems like you want to read $forall x (M(x)wedge B(x))$ as saying




      For all men $x$, it is true that $x$ has brown hair.




      Which is different from the following statement:




      For all $x$, it is true that $x$ is a man and has brown hair.




      The difference is that, in the first statement, $x$ is necessarily a man. In the second statement, we could take $x$ to be a rock*, and we would claim that it is a man with brown hair. The symbol "$forall x$" means that, no matter what we take $x$ to be, the following statement is true of it.



      A common thing to write, however, to express the first statement is
      $$forall xin M(B(x))$$
      where $M$ is the set of all men; this means that we restrict the choice of $x$ to be within this set - although this is the same as
      $$forall x(M(x)rightarrow B(x)).$$



      (*Of course, when working in logic, there's generally a well-defined sense of what $x$ could be - but here, unless $M(x)$ is true of every $x$, the statements are not interchangeable - and, speaking informally, it's unlikely that $x$ is implicitly understood to be a man)






      share|cite|improve this answer


























        2














        It seems like you want to read $forall x (M(x)wedge B(x))$ as saying




        For all men $x$, it is true that $x$ has brown hair.




        Which is different from the following statement:




        For all $x$, it is true that $x$ is a man and has brown hair.




        The difference is that, in the first statement, $x$ is necessarily a man. In the second statement, we could take $x$ to be a rock*, and we would claim that it is a man with brown hair. The symbol "$forall x$" means that, no matter what we take $x$ to be, the following statement is true of it.



        A common thing to write, however, to express the first statement is
        $$forall xin M(B(x))$$
        where $M$ is the set of all men; this means that we restrict the choice of $x$ to be within this set - although this is the same as
        $$forall x(M(x)rightarrow B(x)).$$



        (*Of course, when working in logic, there's generally a well-defined sense of what $x$ could be - but here, unless $M(x)$ is true of every $x$, the statements are not interchangeable - and, speaking informally, it's unlikely that $x$ is implicitly understood to be a man)






        share|cite|improve this answer
























          2












          2








          2






          It seems like you want to read $forall x (M(x)wedge B(x))$ as saying




          For all men $x$, it is true that $x$ has brown hair.




          Which is different from the following statement:




          For all $x$, it is true that $x$ is a man and has brown hair.




          The difference is that, in the first statement, $x$ is necessarily a man. In the second statement, we could take $x$ to be a rock*, and we would claim that it is a man with brown hair. The symbol "$forall x$" means that, no matter what we take $x$ to be, the following statement is true of it.



          A common thing to write, however, to express the first statement is
          $$forall xin M(B(x))$$
          where $M$ is the set of all men; this means that we restrict the choice of $x$ to be within this set - although this is the same as
          $$forall x(M(x)rightarrow B(x)).$$



          (*Of course, when working in logic, there's generally a well-defined sense of what $x$ could be - but here, unless $M(x)$ is true of every $x$, the statements are not interchangeable - and, speaking informally, it's unlikely that $x$ is implicitly understood to be a man)






          share|cite|improve this answer












          It seems like you want to read $forall x (M(x)wedge B(x))$ as saying




          For all men $x$, it is true that $x$ has brown hair.




          Which is different from the following statement:




          For all $x$, it is true that $x$ is a man and has brown hair.




          The difference is that, in the first statement, $x$ is necessarily a man. In the second statement, we could take $x$ to be a rock*, and we would claim that it is a man with brown hair. The symbol "$forall x$" means that, no matter what we take $x$ to be, the following statement is true of it.



          A common thing to write, however, to express the first statement is
          $$forall xin M(B(x))$$
          where $M$ is the set of all men; this means that we restrict the choice of $x$ to be within this set - although this is the same as
          $$forall x(M(x)rightarrow B(x)).$$



          (*Of course, when working in logic, there's generally a well-defined sense of what $x$ could be - but here, unless $M(x)$ is true of every $x$, the statements are not interchangeable - and, speaking informally, it's unlikely that $x$ is implicitly understood to be a man)







          share|cite|improve this answer












          share|cite|improve this answer



          share|cite|improve this answer










          answered Nov 26 '18 at 6:16









          Milo Brandt

          39.3k475139




          39.3k475139























              0














              It's ultimately a matter of what you're trying to imply.



              To say there are some men with brown hair means that both conditions hold true; there exists a person who is both male ($M(x)$) and has brown hair ($B(x)$).



              However, think about what it says to say "all men have brown hair." "All men have" is basically saying "$M(x) Rightarrow text{(something)}$". To say "all men have" something is making an ever-so-subtle assumption that being a man implies something.



              Another problem with the use of the "and" operator here is the subtle assumption that the $x$'s you're dealing with are people. To say "$forall x, M(x) wedge B(x)$" makes the implication that all people ($x$) are both male ($M(x)$) and have brown hair ($B(x)$). However, we know there are also women among the $x$'s, so that doesn't work out does it?



              It's not as overt as saying "$x$ implies $y$," and in the nuances of the English one would look at them as being logically equivalent; it took me a while to even notice myself the nuance. This is probably where your confusion comes from.






              share|cite|improve this answer


























                0














                It's ultimately a matter of what you're trying to imply.



                To say there are some men with brown hair means that both conditions hold true; there exists a person who is both male ($M(x)$) and has brown hair ($B(x)$).



                However, think about what it says to say "all men have brown hair." "All men have" is basically saying "$M(x) Rightarrow text{(something)}$". To say "all men have" something is making an ever-so-subtle assumption that being a man implies something.



                Another problem with the use of the "and" operator here is the subtle assumption that the $x$'s you're dealing with are people. To say "$forall x, M(x) wedge B(x)$" makes the implication that all people ($x$) are both male ($M(x)$) and have brown hair ($B(x)$). However, we know there are also women among the $x$'s, so that doesn't work out does it?



                It's not as overt as saying "$x$ implies $y$," and in the nuances of the English one would look at them as being logically equivalent; it took me a while to even notice myself the nuance. This is probably where your confusion comes from.






                share|cite|improve this answer
























                  0












                  0








                  0






                  It's ultimately a matter of what you're trying to imply.



                  To say there are some men with brown hair means that both conditions hold true; there exists a person who is both male ($M(x)$) and has brown hair ($B(x)$).



                  However, think about what it says to say "all men have brown hair." "All men have" is basically saying "$M(x) Rightarrow text{(something)}$". To say "all men have" something is making an ever-so-subtle assumption that being a man implies something.



                  Another problem with the use of the "and" operator here is the subtle assumption that the $x$'s you're dealing with are people. To say "$forall x, M(x) wedge B(x)$" makes the implication that all people ($x$) are both male ($M(x)$) and have brown hair ($B(x)$). However, we know there are also women among the $x$'s, so that doesn't work out does it?



                  It's not as overt as saying "$x$ implies $y$," and in the nuances of the English one would look at them as being logically equivalent; it took me a while to even notice myself the nuance. This is probably where your confusion comes from.






                  share|cite|improve this answer












                  It's ultimately a matter of what you're trying to imply.



                  To say there are some men with brown hair means that both conditions hold true; there exists a person who is both male ($M(x)$) and has brown hair ($B(x)$).



                  However, think about what it says to say "all men have brown hair." "All men have" is basically saying "$M(x) Rightarrow text{(something)}$". To say "all men have" something is making an ever-so-subtle assumption that being a man implies something.



                  Another problem with the use of the "and" operator here is the subtle assumption that the $x$'s you're dealing with are people. To say "$forall x, M(x) wedge B(x)$" makes the implication that all people ($x$) are both male ($M(x)$) and have brown hair ($B(x)$). However, we know there are also women among the $x$'s, so that doesn't work out does it?



                  It's not as overt as saying "$x$ implies $y$," and in the nuances of the English one would look at them as being logically equivalent; it took me a while to even notice myself the nuance. This is probably where your confusion comes from.







                  share|cite|improve this answer












                  share|cite|improve this answer



                  share|cite|improve this answer










                  answered Nov 26 '18 at 6:17









                  Eevee Trainer

                  4,7001634




                  4,7001634






























                      draft saved

                      draft discarded




















































                      Thanks for contributing an answer to Mathematics Stack Exchange!


                      • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                      But avoid



                      • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                      • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                      Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


                      To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.





                      Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.


                      Please pay close attention to the following guidance:


                      • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                      But avoid



                      • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                      • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                      To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                      draft saved


                      draft discarded














                      StackExchange.ready(
                      function () {
                      StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3013909%2fwhy-is-some-men-have-brown-hair-exists-xmx-wedge-bx-but-all-men-hav%23new-answer', 'question_page');
                      }
                      );

                      Post as a guest















                      Required, but never shown





















































                      Required, but never shown














                      Required, but never shown












                      Required, but never shown







                      Required, but never shown

































                      Required, but never shown














                      Required, but never shown












                      Required, but never shown







                      Required, but never shown







                      Popular posts from this blog

                      Plaza Victoria

                      Puebla de Zaragoza

                      Musa