• Boinkage@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Substitute common sense terms. If I say “if it is an apple, it is a fruit”, does it then follow that a thing is a fruit if and only if it is an apple? No. Lots of other things are fruit without being an apple.

          • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Better read that one again.

            “If B then A” … “B if and only if A”?

            If Apple then fruit. Is Apple ONLY if it’s a fruit.

            This one actually checks out.

            • Boinkage@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              If and only if is a biconditional. “b if and only if a” means “if b then a” AND “b only if a”. B only if A here means “It is an apple only if is a fruit”, in other words, “if it is a fruit, it could only be an apple.” Which ain’t right.

              B -> A (if B, then A) (if apple, then fruit, correct)

              B <-> A (B if and only if A) (if apple, then fruit, AND if fruit, then apple, incorrect).

              • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                Gotcha. I was reading it aloud: “It’s an Apple if and only if it’s a fruit.” which isn’t wrong, but I guess the technical definition of “If and only if” assumes more than the words imply.

        • Casey_Masterpiece@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          If B then A is the same as if X then Y is the same as if A then B. They are saying it’s the same as the OP. Changing the letters around doesn’t change the meaning since the letters are just placeholders.

          Now if you said If A then B AND If B then A as one it wouldn’t be the same because A and B would have to keep the same meaning.

          • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            But they switched the order in only the first half of the statement. I don’t know if everyone commenting caught that.

            Is “If B then A” equal to “B if and only if A”?

            This IS different from the original question.