Talk:Converse (logic)

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Latest comment: 19 years ago by Gene.arboit in topic Converse or inverse

Converse or inverse

This article should be merged with Inverse (logic)? Gene.arboit 02:18, 11 September 2005 (UTC)Reply

I don't think the two articles should be merged. The converse is a much more imoprtant and complex idea in mathematics than the logical inverse is. For example, consider the following proposition:
A → (BC)
A naïve understanding of the converse says that the converse of this is:
(BC) → A
But in fact, as mathematicains and logicians understand and use the word "converse", the original proposition is understood to be equivalent to :
(AB) → C
and so its converse is:
C → (AB).
and in general, one wants equivalent statements to have equivalent converses, which is not true of the simple definition of the converse of (AB) as being (BA). -- Dominus 04:06, 12 September 2005 (UTC)Reply
Agreed. Amerindianarts 09:48, 13 September 2005 (UTC)Reply
I think I see the point. (BC) → A, i.e. (B ∧ ¬ C) ∨ A, is not equivalent to C → (AB), i.e. ¬ C ∨ (AB). Should this be mentioned in the converse article, perhaps? Gene.arboit 02:57, 14 September 2005 (UTC)Reply