Logic For Dummies

Mark Zegarelli is a professional writer with degrees in both English and Math from Rutgers University. He has earned his living for many years writing vast quantities of logic puzzles, a hefty chunk of software documentation, and the occasional book or film review. Along the way, he’s also paid a few bills doing housecleaning, decorative painting, and (for ten hours) retail sales. He likes writing best, though.

• Introduction. Part I: Overview of Logic.Chapter 1: What Is This Thing Called Logic?Chapter 2: Logical Developments from Aristotle to the Computer.Chapter 3: Just for the Sake of Argument.Part II: Formal Sentential Logic (SL).Chapter 4: Formal Affairs.Chapter 5: The Value of Evaluation.Chapter 6: Turning the Tables: Evaluating Statements with Truth Tables.Chapter 7: Taking the Easy Way Out: Creating Quick Tables.Chapter 8: Truth Grows on Trees.Part III: Proofs, Syntax, and Semantics in SL.Chapter 9: What Have You Got to Prove?Chapter 10: Equal Opportunities: Putting Equivalence Rules to Work.Chapter 11: Big Assumptions with Conditional and Indirect Proofs.Chapter 12: Putting It All Together: Strategic Moves to Polish Off Any Proof.Chapter 13: One for All and All for One.Chapter 14: Syntactical Maneuvers and Semantic Considerations.Part IV: Quantifier Logic (QL).Chapter 15: Expressing Quantity with Quality: Introducing Quantifier Logic.Chapter 16: QL Translations.Chapter 17: Proving Arguments with QL.Chapter 18: Good Relations and Positive Identities.Chapter 19: Planting a Quantity of Trees.Part V: Modern Developments in Logic.Chapter 20: Computer Logic.Chapter 21: Sporting Propositions: Non-Classical Logic.Chapter 22: Paradox and Axiomatic Systems.Part VI: The Part of Tens.Chapter 23: Ten Quotes about Logic.Chapter 24: Ten Big Names in Logic.Chapter 25: Ten Tips for Passing a Logic Exam.Index.