Phil 155 - Introduction to Mathematical Logic
UNC Chapel Hill
Sample Syllabus
Instructor Information
Katherine Nolfi (please call me Kate)
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.katenolfi.com
Phone: 202.271.4947
Office: 105D Caldwell Hall
Office Hours: go to http://katenolfi.youcanbook.me to check when I am available to meet with
students.
Course Overview
In many disciplines and in everyday life, we construct and evaluate all sorts of arguments for all sorts
of claims. The central question we'll be concerned with in this course is: what makes an argument a
good argument? We will focus on a particular good-making feature of certain arguments, namely
their validity. Valid arguments are ones whose conclusions logically follow from their premises.
Throughout the course, we'll discover several valid argument patterns and learn how to reason using
those argument patterns. We'll do this by first learning to speak a formal language, the language of
first-order logic, and how to translate between this language and ordinary English. In the first half of
the course, we'll be looking at predicate logic, or the logic of sentences with a simple subjectpredicate form; in the second half of the course, we'll be looking at quantificational logic, or the
logic of sentences involving quantifiers. By the end of the course, students will be able to speak our
formal language, and evaluate arguments in that language for validity. The goal of the class is to
introduce students to the immense power of this approach to evaluating arguments in clarifying our
everyday reasoning. The material we will cover in this course is cumulative – each chapter that we
cover builds on the last. For this reason it is imperative that students keep up with the readings and
stay on top of the weekly problem sets in order to do well.
Required Texts
The textbook for this course is Language, Proof and Logic (2nd edition) by David Barker-Plummer, Jon
Barwise, and John Etchemendy. (ISBN-13: 9781575866321)
Note: Students MUST buy a new copy of this text since students must use the accompanying
software to submit weekly problem sets and this software will not work properly if one purchases a
used copy of the book.
Course Requirements
Reading: You are expected to come to class on any given day having already done the assigned
reading for that day. Generally speaking, we will not spend time in class reviewing the material that
has been covered in the reading. Instead, we will use class time to practice applying and extending
the concepts and strategies that have been covered in the reading assignment. For this reason, it is
crucial that you make sure that you are relatively comfortable with the material presented in the
assigned reading before you come to class. This may mean that you need to read the assigned
chapter a few times before class and/or try to work a few problems from the chapter. You should
always complete the “you-try-it” exercises from the reading before class.
Class Participation: Much of the class time in this course will be devoted to working problems.
Often, we will use the software that accompanies our textbook in class to work problems and so it is
crucial that you bring your laptop to every class meeting. I will often ask students to submit a
solution to a problem that we work in class during the class meeting – I use these submissions in
calculating your class participation grade. These submissions must be turned in before the end of
the class period and help me to keep track of who is in class on any given day. You will receive class
participation credit for your submission regardless of whether or not you submit a correct solution
to the problem. The remainder of your class participation grade will be determined by your level of
engagement in class during group work and by your presentation of at least two problems in front of
the class.
Weekly Problem Sets: Almost every week I will assign a series of problems from the textbook to be
turned in for credit at the end of the week. These problems are due by 4:30pm on Friday and will
be graded for correctness. Your grade on any given problem set will be determined by the
percentage of the assigned problems that you answer correctly. So, if you answer 8 out of 10
problems correctly, you will receive and 80% on the problem set. Some of the assigned problems
each week will be problems that we have worked on during class and others may be problems that
we have not looked at in class. You are welcome (and encouraged!) to work in groups and to seek
out my help outside of class to complete the assigned problems that you have not solved during
class time. If you need an extension on one of the problem sets, you must contact me via email by
11:30pm on the Thursday before the problem set is due. As a rule, I will not accept late problem
sets and so if you submit your problem set after 4:30pm on Friday without obtaining an extension,
you will receive a 0% for that problem set. If and only if a student provides documentation (e.g. a
doctor’s note) of extenuating circumstances, I will consider granting the student an extension on a
problem set after the Thursday deadline.
Midterm Exam: The midterm exam will be a take-home exam and will be posted on Sakai at 9:30am
on Thursday, March 1st and is due on Saturday, March 3rd at 4:30pm. The midterm exam will cover
material from Chapters 1 through 8 of the textbook. You may consult your textbook, the textbook
website, and your notes as you work on the exam. However, you must complete the exam alone and
you may not consult any other sources (eg. classmates, the internet, other texts, etc.) during the
exam period. As with all assignments in this course, the Honor Code will be strictly enforced. You
must send me an email with “Honor Pledge” as the subject in which you pledge the Honor Code
before the end of the exam period. If I do not receive your honor pledge, you will not receive credit
for the exam. As a rule, I will not accept late exams and so if, during the exam period,
circumstances arise that you suspect may prevent you from turning your exam in on time, you
should contact me immediately by phone (I will include my cell number on the exam assignment
sheet on Sakai) and by email and be prepared to provide documentation of your circumstances in
order to secure an extension. Students will not be permitted to reschedule their midterm exams.
Final Exam: The final exam will also be a take-home exam. The exam will be posted on April 29th at
9:30am and is due by 11am on Tuesday, May 1st. Students will not be permitted to reschedule the
exam and, as always, I will not accept late exams. You may consult to your textbook and your notes
as you work on the exam. However, you must complete the exam alone and you may not consult
any other sources (eg. classmates, the internet, other texts, etc.) during the exam period. As with all
assignments in this course, the Honor Code will be strictly enforced. You must send me an email
with “Honor Pledge” as the subject in which you pledge the Honor Code before the end of the
exam period. If I do not receive your honor pledge, you will not receive credit for the exam.
Submitting Assignments
All problems from the textbook that require the use of the course software (whether they are
assigned as part of a weekly problem set, assigned in class as part of participation, or assigned as part
of one of the exams) should be submitted using the grade grinder software as per the instructions in
the textbook. Note that you can check your solutions to these problems using grade grinder without
submitting your solutions to your instructor and so you must make sure that, when the time comes
to submit your assignment for grading, you select to submit to your instructor. If you fail to select
“Instructor too” when submitting your assignment, you will not receive credit for your work.
When you submit problems through grade grinder, you should receive a grade report via email (this
is the same report that I receive). You should save this report for your records. If you do not
receive a grade report within 15 minutes of submission, your submission has not be processed and
you should re-submit your work to ensure that you get credit for turning your assignment in on
time. If you still have trouble submitting your work, contact me via email.
When more than one problem for a given assignment requires the use of the course software, make
sure that you submit your solutions to all the assigned problems to grade grinder at the same time (in
one batch). If you submit your solutions separately, you may not receive credit for all of your work.
I will always and only regard the last grade grinder submission that I receive from you before the due
date for a given assignment as your submission for that assignment..
Any assigned problems from the textbook that do not require the use of the course software, but
instead are to be completed by hand (whether they are assigned as part of a weekly problem set,
assigned in class as part of participation, or assigned as part of one of the exams) should be
submitted to via the link under the relevant assignment on the course Sakai site. In order to receive
credit for your work on a given assignment, you must submit all your work for that assignment as a
single pdf or as a word document. Let me repeat: all problems that do not require the use of the
course software that are assigned in an assignment should be submitted in a single file. The name of
your file must be in the following format: AssignmentName-YourName.pdf or AssignementNameYourName.doc (for example: ProblemSet1-KateNolfi.doc). Work that is not properly formatted
may not be graded and so if you fail to format your work properly, you may receive 0 points for
your work.
Final Grades
Your final grade in this course will be calculated as follows:
Weekly Problem Sets – 70% (there will be 12 problem sets, so each is worth just under 6%
of your final grade)
Midterm Exam I – 10%
Final Exam – 10%
Class Participation – 10%
The philosophy department has set an average final course grade target of B-/C+ across its course
offerings. So, if at the end of the semester the class average in this course is less than 79.5%, final
grades will be curved to bring the class average up to 79.5%. If the average grade in the course at
the end of the semester is above 79.5%, final grades will not be curved.
Honor Code
You are bound by the UNC-Chapel Hill Honor Code, which states that:
“It shall be the responsibility of every student at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to
obey and support the enforcement of the Honor Code, which prohibits lying, cheating, or stealing
when these actions involve academic processes or University students or academic personnel acting
in an official capacity.”
The Honor Code applies to all of your work in this course.
Instructors are required by the Honor Code to report every incident of suspected plagiarism or
cheating, including first offenses. It is worth mentioning here that grade grinder will alert me if you
submit the same file as another student as a solution to one of the assigned problems. I will
consider this sort of act to be an act of plagiarism.
Course Schedule and Reading Assignments
Week 1
Topic
Assigned Reading
Introduction to the
Course
Chapter 1: Propositional
Logic
Assignments Due
Introduction to the
Course Software
What is Propositional
Logic?
Week 2
What are Proofs and
Demonstrations?
Chapter 2: The Logic of
Atomic Sentences
Problem Set 1
Week 3
Building our Language:
Introduction to the
Boolean Connectives
Chapter 3: The Boolean
Connectives
Problem Set 2
Week 4
Understanding
Sentences Involving the
Boolean Connectives
Chapter 4: The Logic of
Boolean Connectives
Problem Set 3
Week 5
Introduction to Proofs
with the Boolean
Chapter 5: Methods of
Proof for Boolean Logic
Problem Set 4
Connectives
Week 6
Formal Proofs with the
Boolean Connectives
Chapter 6: Formal
Proofs for Boolean
Logic
Problem Set 5
Week 7
Building our Language:
Introduction to
Conditionals
Chapter 7: Conditionals
Problem Set 6
Week 8
Proofs with
Conditionals
Chapter 8: The Logic of
Conditionals
Problem Set 7
Week 9
Catch-up and Review
Week 10
Building our Language:
Introduction to
Quantifiers
Chapter 9: Introduction
to Quantifiers
Problem Set 8
Week 11
Understanding
Sentences Involving
Quantifiers
Chapter 10: The Logic
of Quantifiers
Problem Set 9
Week 12
Understanding
Sentences with Multiple
Quantifiers
Chapter 11: Multiple
Quantifiers
Problem Set 10
Week 13
Introduction to Proofs
with Quantifiers
Chapter 12: Methods of
Proof for Quantifiers
Problem set 11
Week 14
Formal Proofs with
Quantifiers
Chapter 13: Formal
Proofs and Quantifiers
Problem Set 12
Week 15
Catch-up and Review
Midterm Exam
available on Sakai
from *** to ***
Final Exam available
on Sakai from *** to
***