Question

Can you explain how to understand truth tables

Answer 1

I would think of them merely as a way to represent 4 (or 8 or 16 or however many) cases. In a simpler case, you're given two statements P and Q, both of which can be true, or false. This divides it up into 4 cases.
1. P=True, Q=True
2. P=True, Q=False
3. P=False, Q=True
4. P=False, Q=False.
Each of these cases is assigned a row in the truth table, and in the other columns you can mark whether more complex statements are true or false.

Does this help? Do you need more explanation on a certain area?

Answer 2

What I don't understand it how it makes sense

Answer 3

I'll show an example

Answer 4

"If triangles have four sides, then squares have four sides"

Answer 5

How can "If triangles have four sides" be true?

Answer 6

Which is P

Answer 7

You aren't thinking abstractly enough. If you didn't know what a triangle or a square was, that statement would make no sense to you, except that whatever a triangle is, it might have 4 sides. Use the sentence "If a tree has 4 lamps, then a piano has 4 lamps." This makes absolutely no sense realistically, but it doesn't effect the construction of a truth table.

Of course, in the real world, "triangles have 4 sides" sounds preposterous. But when constructing a truth table, you rarely care about the real world. Just the information given to you.

Answer 8

That makes sense

Answer 9

In fact, even more preposterously, the statement "If triangles have four sides, then squares have four sides" would technically be true if triangles don't have 4 sides.

Answer 10

But, just because the statement is true in one case, does not make it always true.

Answer 11

Okay

Answer 12

I understand it more, not fully but more than I did before

Answer 13

Thanks!

Answer 14

No problem. I'm sure you'll understand it more and more as time goes on.

Answer 15

It won't let me fan you is there a bug?

Answer 16

The website is being very laggy and glitchy right now. I'm having a bunch of issues as well.