s.The second premise (p2) is "Bill sits in the back row." This can be written symbolically as s.
The conclusion (q) is "Therefore Bill is a cheater." This can be written symbolically as c.
1b) The first step is to translate the argument into symbolic form. To form an argument we need a collection of premises and a conclusion. The conclusion is normally the statement which begins with "Therefore", "Hence" or "Thus". In this case, there are two premises. The first premise is "If Bill is a cheater, then Bill sits in the back row." The second premise is "Bill sits in the back row." The conclusion is "Therefore Bill is a cheater."
Let c represent "Bill is a cheater", and let s represent "Bill sits in the back row." Now write each of the premises and the conclusion in symbolic form.
The first premise (p1) is "If Bill is a cheater, then Bill
sits in the back row." This can be written symbolically as c s.
The second premise (p2) is "Bill sits in the back row." This can be
written symbolically as s.
The conclusion (q) is "Therefore Bill is a cheater." This can be written
symbolically as c.
Remember that an argument is written as a conjunction of the premises
implies the conclusion. So this argument can be represented as
[(c s) L (s)]
c.
There are several methods which may be used to determine if this argument is valid. If you would like to use a the truth table approach, click here. If you would like to use an approach which tries to determine whether the argument can be invalid, click here.