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Identify what comes after if
and then
in the statement. Which is the hypothesis, and which is the conclusion?
We are given the following conditional statement.
If a polygon is a pentagon, then it has five sides. |
Remember that conditional statement combines a hypothesis p and a conclusion q. A conditional statement can be written as an if-then
.
p→ q ⇒ If p, then q
Therefore, whatever comes after if
in our statement is the hypothesis, and what comes after then
is the conclusion.
The negation of a statement is the opposite of the original statement. To write a negation of a statement p, we need to write the symbol for negation (~) before the letters. ~ p → Not p We can also write the converse, contrapositive, and the inverse of a conditional statement. Let's see the differences in the following table!
Related Conditionals | ||
---|---|---|
Name | Words | Symbol |
Converse | If p, then q. | p → q |
Inverse | If q, then p. | ~ p → ~ q |
Contrapositive | If not q, then not p. | ~ q → ~ p |
A conditional statement can be true unless a true hypothesis leads to a false conclusion. To see all the possibles cases, we can use a true table.
Conditional Statement | ||
---|---|---|
p | q | p ⇒ q |
T | T | T |
T | F | F |
F | T | T |
F | F | T |
Notice from the table that a conditional statement is false only when the hypothesis is true and the conclusion false. In any other case, a conditional statement is true.