sci.logic
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Re: Silly Question

Subject: Re: Silly Question
From: "Prisoner at War"
Date: 17 Oct 2006 09:06:47 -0700
Newsgroups: sci.logic, alt.english.usage
Thank you for the insight.  Indeed, good ol' "reverse" seems the best
term, and non too pompous at that!  I had in mind "inverse" since I was
thinking in terms of quantities....

Thanks again.  Yes, "converse" implies implications!



Arturo Magidin wrote:
> In article <1161096843.571771.7480@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> Prisoner at War <prisoner_at_war@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> >Are the terms "3, 5" and "5, 3" inverses or converses of one another?
>
> I don't think they are either.
>
> "Converse" usually applies to an implication statement. The converse
> of a statement of the form "If P then Q" is the statement "If Q then
> P."  As such, since neither of your statements are implications, I
> would not think either can be reasonably called a converse of the
> other.
>
> "Inverse" has many meanings depending on context; but I would not
> apply it to the expressions you write except under some very strict
> interpretations of what you meant.
>
> Perhaps you want the word "reverse"? Taking an ordered list, and
> listing it from last to first might reasonably be called "reversing"
> the list.
>
> --
> ======================================================================
> "It's not denial. I'm just very selective about
>  what I accept as reality."
>     --- Calvin ("Calvin and Hobbes" by Bill Watterson)
> ======================================================================
> 
> Arturo Magidin
> magidin-at-member-ams-org


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