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Confused about conditional logic: Translating "not the only"

xuzuqiaoxuzuqiao Core Member
edited June 2023 in Logical Reasoning 95 karma

Hi 7Sagers,

How would the following statement be diagrammed?
"The tornadoes in the area are not the only natural disasters happening in the country."

Does this statement have a useful representation using conditional logic? How would "not the only" be represented when diagramming a conditional statement? This was not pulled from a PrepTest, just something I thought of while going through the Logic section of the CC.

Thanks!

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Comments

  • bukaokoyebukaokoye Alum Member
    edited June 2023 121 karma

    I don’t think this sentence needs to be translated. But if you wanted to translate, it would be, “Some natural disasters happening in the country are the tornadoes in the area.” As you can see, the meaning of the sentence isn’t improved by translating (at least not in my view).

  • AspiringforBalance-1AspiringforBalance-1 Alum Member
    edited June 2023 84 karma

    "The only" is a sufficient condition indicator, like "all," "any," "every," etc. When I see "not the only," I translate it to: "not all." "Not all" is just the negation of an all statement.

    "Not all" translates to, "some...not."

    "The tornados in the area are not the only natural disasters happening in the country."

    So, "Some natural disasters happening in the country (DHC) are not the tornadoes in the area (TA)."

    DHC <- s -> /TA

  • bukaokoyebukaokoye Alum Member
    edited June 2023 121 karma

    @"AspiringforBalance-1" said:
    "The only" is a sufficient condition indicator, like "all," "any," "every," etc. When I see "not the only," I translate it to: "not all." "Not all" is just the negation of an all statement.

    "Not all" translates to, "some...not."

    "The tornados in the area are not the only natural disasters happening in the country."

    So, "Some natural disasters happening in the country (DHC) are not the tornadoes in the area (TA)."

    DHC <- s -> /TA

    So, when you negate a group 1 indicator like "the only" or "all", it turns into "some". That's why the proper translation would be, "Some natural disasters happening in the country (DHC) are the tornadoes in the area (TA)," which can be diagrammed as DHC <-s-> TA.

  • xuzuqiaoxuzuqiao Core Member
    95 karma

    Would the translation be BOTH "Some natural disasters happening in the country (DHC) are the tornadoes in the area (TA)" as well as "Some natural disasters happening in the country (DHC) are not the tornadoes in the area (TA)"?

    When I read the statement, I think, "Oh, so tornadoes are included in the natural disasters happening in the country, but other natural disasters are also happening."

    Both DHC <-s-> TA, DHC <-s-> /TA sound correct to me.

  • bukaokoyebukaokoye Alum Member
    edited June 2023 121 karma

    @dzxu88 said:
    Would the translation be BOTH "Some natural disasters happening in the country (DHC) are the tornadoes in the area (TA)" as well as "Some natural disasters happening in the country (DHC) are not the tornadoes in the area (TA)"?

    When I read the statement, I think, "Oh, so tornadoes are included in the natural disasters happening in the country, but other natural disasters are also happening."

    Both DHC <-s-> TA, DHC <-s-> /TA sound correct to me.

    I really do think that, "Some natural disasters happening in the country (DHC) are the tornadoes in the area (TA)" is the proper translation because there is strictly speaking only one 'not' in your original sentence, i.e., the one that negates the group 1 indicator 'the only'. However, I can totally grant that the sentence, "Some natural disasters happening in the country (DHC) are not the tornadoes in the area (/TA)," is implied by this translation. Open to hearing others' thoughts on this!

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