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In logic and mathematics, necessity and sufficiency are terms used to describe a conditional or implicational relationship between two statements.For example, in the conditional statement: "If P then Q", Q is necessary for P, because the truth of Q is guaranteed by the truth of P.
For example, direct proof can be used to prove that the sum of two even integers is always even: Consider two even integers x and y. Since they are even, they can be written as x = 2a and y = 2b, respectively, for some integers a and b. Then the sum is x + y = 2a + 2b = 2(a+b). Therefore x+y has 2 as a factor and, by definition, is even. Hence ...
An antecedent is the first half of a hypothetical proposition, whenever the if-clause precedes the then-clause. In some contexts the antecedent is called the protasis. [1] Examples: If , then . This is a nonlogical formulation of a hypothetical proposition. In this case, the antecedent is P, and the consequent is Q.
These examples, one from mathematics and one from natural language, illustrate the concept of vacuous truths: "For any integer x, if x > 5 then x > 3." [11] – This statement is true non-vacuously (since some integers are indeed greater than 5), but some of its implications are only vacuously true: for example, when x is the integer 2, the statement implies the vacuous truth that "if 2 > 5 ...
Venn diagram of (true part in red) In logic and mathematics, the logical biconditional, also known as material biconditional or equivalence or biimplication or bientailment, is the logical connective used to conjoin two statements and to form the statement "if and only if" (often abbreviated as "iff " [1]), where is known as the antecedent, and the consequent.
The hypothesis of Andreas Cellarius, showing the planetary motions in eccentric and epicyclical orbits. A hypothesis (pl.: hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. A scientific hypothesis must be based on observations and make a testable and reproducible prediction about reality, in a process beginning with an educated guess or ...
Then P(0) is true, for if it were false then 0 is the least element of S. Furthermore, let n be a natural number, and suppose P(m) is true for all natural numbers m less than n + 1. Then if P(n + 1) is false n + 1 is in S, thus being a minimal element in S, a contradiction. Thus P(n + 1) is true.
if P holds, then of course P holds. if ¬P holds, then we derive falsehood by applying the law of noncontradiction to ¬P and ¬¬P, after which the principle of explosion allows us to conclude P. In either case, we established P. It turns out that, conversely, proof by contradiction can be used to derive the law of excluded middle.