SLOG Post #2

So the past week has introduced some interesting things. I was struggling a bit with "and", "or", "if_then_", "not" and how they interact with each other in addition to struggling with being able to translate sentences to symbols and back early on last week but I think I'm getting a better grasp now that I'm getting more accustomed to the syntax and definitions. I still need to remind myself that "or" is inclusive, not exclusive like it is in normal speech most (?) of the time. I've found saying things aloud and trying to be very methodical makes it much easier to decipher what a line is really "saying" whether it be English or symbols rather than just trying to go with gut instinct (since I usually go with what I would assume it would be using colloquial speech).

Unsurprisingly I've encountered some material we've covered in CSC165 in another one of my courses, philosophy. The instance was not specifically in lecture or in the actual course materials but rather during a tutorial. Discussing the problem of induction, our T.A. brought up what he called "the raven paradox". From my recollection it went as follows: Assume all ravens are black. (for all x in the domain, if x is a raven, then x is black) so... (for all x if x is not black then x is not a raven). The idea is to show that nature's uniformity is weird. If one sees a white cat...that white cat logically adds credence to the assumption that all ravens are black because the domain (of living things?) is now what it was -1. The problem of induction is very interesting and this example made it even more so as it included stuff we've learned in 165 directly! 

The assignment is going well or at least I hope it is and I'm not deluding myself into thinking it is when it is not. Some parts were quite challenging to wrap my head around (well... to sort through and keep things in place where they belong, mentally). We've yet to finish it entirely so I will leave any further comments  until we've finished or have received the evaluation of it.