Difference between revisions of "Contrapositive"
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Given the conditional statement "If a polygon has 3 sides, then it is a triangle", the contrapositive is "If a polygon is not a triangle, then it does not have 3 sides". | Given the conditional statement "If a polygon has 3 sides, then it is a triangle", the contrapositive is "If a polygon is not a triangle, then it does not have 3 sides". | ||
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| + | == See also == | ||
| + | * [[Logic]] | ||
Revision as of 22:09, 29 July 2006
A contrapositive of a statement is always true, assuming that the conditional statement is true. However, if the conditional statement is false, then the contrapositive is also false.
A conditional statement is usually expressed as
If P, then Q.
The contrapositive statement is usually expressed as
If not Q, then not P.
where P denotes a condition and Q denotes another condition.
Examples
Given the conditional statement "If a polygon has 3 sides, then it is a triangle", the contrapositive is "If a polygon is not a triangle, then it does not have 3 sides".
