Logic, Sets, and Functions

This book is intended as an introduction to symbolic logic and elementary set theory, including mathematical induction. It is designed to meet the needs of a semester-long course, with the needs and interests of computer science majors and others requiring a foundation in the construction of proofs and in the use of discrete mathematics. The text is accompanied by a software application, Plato, available in both Windows and Macintosh versions. Plato can be used by students in producing derivations that employ the proof styles and rules introduced in this text. The use of Plato provides the student with immediate feedback, since it will not allow any logical errors to be committed. Plato is quite flexible, capable of being used to generate a derivation of any valid argument in first-order logic. In addition, Plato greatly eases the burden of grading homework. We would like to express our appreciation to the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas-Austin, and to the Multimedia Task Force of the UT System, for their financial support for the development of Plato.