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Home < - Volume 1A Pattern Based Reason << Chapter 21 Occurrence-Tables

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Chapter 21, Occurrence Tables

The Special Usage of Three Words: not, and & or

Given a situation A, we can talk about the negative situation not A. Given a situation A and another situation B, we may talk about two further situations

  1. A and B (conjunction), and
  2. A or B (inclusive or).

The meanings of the terms or phrases are explained next.

NOT A and NOT (NOT A)

Given a single situation A, we can speak of another situation NOT A. The situation NOT A is said to occur when the situation A does not occur. Further, the situation NOT A is said not to occur when the situation A occurs. This is summarized in the following table.

row A NOT (A)
1 occurs occurs not
2 occurs not occurs

Language note: a situation A is said to be true when it occurs and not true (false) when it does not occur.

The following table

row A NOT A NOT (NOT A)
1 occurs occurs not occurs
2 occurs not occurs occurs not

shows that the situation NOT (NOT A) occurs when A occurs and that the situation NOT (NOT A) does not occur when A does not occur. This suggests that the situation A is equivalent to the situation NOT (NOT A).

The Special Usage of Three Words (Continued)

The word AND

The situation A and B is said to occur if both situations A and B occur. Otherwise, it is said not to occur. See the table below.

row situation A situation B A and B
1 occurs occurs occurs
2 occurs occurs not occurs not
3 occurs not occurs occurs not
4 occurs not occurs not occurs not

The situation A and B occurs provided
rows 2, 3 and 4 in the above never occur.

In each row, a possible combination of the occurrence or nonoccurrence of the situations A and B is shown in the middle two columns. In the last column, we put a note to say whether or not, the situation A and B occurs or occurs not.

* Language Note. The phrase A and B is also labelled (called) the conjunction of the situations A and B. The situation A and B is said to be true when and only when both the situations A and B occur (= are true).

The Special Usage of Three Words

The At-Least-One-Usage of the word OR

In everyday speech when you use the word or in a phrase like John or Andrew will go to the store, the usual expectation is that only one will go, not both. But there is another use of the word or favored in logic. The word or is employed in the at least one sense (as is done in logic and mathematics). With this sense or usage, the previous phrase is understood in the inclusive sense: John or Andrew, or both, will go to the store. We now proceed and we will use the word or in the at least one sense.

The situation (A or B ) is said to occur if at least one of the two situations A and B occurs. Otherwise, it is said not to occur. This is summarized in the following table.

row situation A situation B A or B
1 occurs occurs occurs
2 occurs occurs not occurs
3 occurs not occurs occurs
4 occurs not occurs not occurs not

The situation A or B can be said to occur
provided the situation in row 4 does not occur.

Remember the at least one usage differs from the exactly one usage of A or B which means either A or B occurs, but not both. In contrast, in the at least one usage, A or B means either A or B occurs, or both.

We have to be careful with the word or. Its meaning depends on the speaker and possibly the listener. That is, confusion and ambiguity results when two people in question use the same words but give them different meanings. To eliminate this ambiguity in everyday speech, write and say one of the following:

  • A or B, or both,
  • A and/or B
  • A or B, but not both.

When listening, you will have to ask what is meant. Legal texts use the phrase A and/or B to signal that at least one of the two cases A and B can occur.

2. Occurrence Table for One-Way Implications

Any rule which can be stated in the form if a first situation A occurs, then a second situation B occurs, in brief, if A then B or A implies B, is called a one-way implication.

A one-way implication which is never disobeyed is said to hold and to be (always) true. For a one-way implication rule if A then B, we recall the following:

  1. The rule is obeyed when both situations occur.
  2. The rule is not disobeyed when the first situation A does not occur but the second B occurs.
  3. The rule is not disobeyed when the first situation A does not occur and also the second situation B does not occur.
  4. The rule is disobeyed if the first situation A occurs but the second situation B does not.

The last two items 3 and 4 can be summarized by saying that disobeying a one-way implication rule is impossible when the first situation A does not occur. When not disobeyed, the rule is said to be obeyed by default. The following table, an occurrence table for the one-way implication rule if A then B, summarizes what has been said.

row situation A situation B if A then B
1 occurs occurs obeyed
2 occurs occurs not disobeyed
3 occurs not occurs not
disobeyed
4 occurs not occurs not not
disobeyed

In each row, a possible combination of the occurrence or non-occurrence of the situations A and B is shown in the middle two columns. In the last column, we put a note to say whether or not the if-then rule is obeyed, disobeyed, or not disobeyed.

Row 2 represents the situation in which A occurs but B does not. Observe that in this situation, the rule is disobeyed. In the situations represented by the other three rows, the rule is not disobeyed. A one-way implication rule if A then B is said

  1. to be always true,

  2. to always hold

when it is never disobeyed. The one-way implication if A then B is always true when the situation described in row 2 in the above table never occurs.

Remark. If situation A never occurs, the implication rule if A then B is never disobeyed amd it is said to be vacuously true.

3 Occurrence Table for Two-Way Implication Rules

A rule which can be stated, or restated, in the form
The first situation A occurs when and only when the second situation B occurs
or in the form
The first situation A occurs if and only if the second situation B occurs
is called a two-way implication rule. For each two-way implication rule note that:

  1. The rule is obeyed when both situations occur.

  2. The rule is disobeyed when the first situation A occurs without the second situation B occurring.

  3. The rule is disobeyed when the second situation B occurs without the first situation A.

  4. In brief, the two situations in a two-way implication rule must both occur or both must not occur, for the rule to be not disobeyed.

The next table summarizes the above remarks for any two-way implication rule A if and only if B.

row situation A situation B A if and only if B
1 occurs occurs obeyed
2 occurs occurs not disobeyed
3 occurs not occurs disobeyed
4 occurs not occurs not not disobeyed


As said before, a two-way implication rule is said to be always true when it is never disobeyed. This requires that the situations in rows 2 and 3 of the above table do not occur. That is, the above two-way implication rule A iff B is true (never disobeyed) provided neither of the situations A and B occurs without the other.


Converses for One-Way Implications

A Definition

The converse to the implication rule if A then B is the rule if B then A. Note that interchanging the first and second situation A and B yields the converse to a rule. From this definition or perspective, we see that the converse of the converse is the original rule. Check this.

When we know a rule if A then B is never disobeyed, we have no guarantee that the converse rule if B then A is never disobeyed. The reason for this is as follows. The rule if A then B is true if the situation A never occurs without the situation B. The converse rule if B then A is true if the situation B cannot occur without the situation A.

Reminder. Now we can easily answer the following question: What can we say for sure about the event A when (i) the rule if A then B is never disobeyed, and (ii) the event B occurs? Your answer should be not much, or nothing, without further information.


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Home < - Volume 1A Pattern Based Reason << Chapter 21 Occurrence-Tables

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23][24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30]


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2. Solve Linear Eqns
3. Computation Rules
4. Axioms, Item 3 Viewpnt
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More Algebra
Logarithms-ax & m/nth roots
Five Polynomial Operations
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Functions || Vectors too
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Calculus Prep/Preview
What is a Variable
Why study slopes
Why factor polynomials
Complex Numbers
Limits + Continuity

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