Question

Read the following three statements. Use the Law of Detachment and the Law of Syllogism to draw a conclusion.

If an elephant weighs more than 2,000 pounds, then it weighs more than Jill’s car.
If something weighs more than Jill’s car, then it is too heavy for the bridge.
Smiley the Elephant weighs 2,150 pounds.

If Smiley weighs more than Jill’s car, then Smiley is too heavy for the bridge.

Smiley is too heavy for the bridge.

Smiley weighs more than 2000 pounds, then Smiley is too heavy for the bridge.

Smiley weighs more than Jill’s car.

Answer 1

Since we know that Smiley the Elephant weighs 2,150 pounds, and from the first statement, we can conclude that if Smiley weighs more than 2,000 pounds, then he weighs more than Jill's car.
Using the Law of Detachment, we can then apply the second statement which tells us that if something weighs more than Jill's car, then it is too heavy for the bridge. Therefore, we can conclude that Smiley is too heavy for the bridge.