[EM] Richard's frontrunners example

[Blake Cretney]

On Wed, 21 Feb 2001 04:59:30 -0000
"MIKE OSSIPOFF" <nkklrp at hotmail.com> wrote:

> >You see, the problem with this argument is as follows:
> >
> >b is a conditional statement of the form, if X then Y. Now b is
true 
> >whenever
> >X and Y are both true. But b is also true if X is false and Y is
true. 
> >What's
> >more, it's true if X and Y are both false. The only way statement b
can
> >be false is if X is true and Y is false.
> >The consequence of this is that b can be true at times when a is
not.
> 
> >b will
> >be true whenever a is true; it will also be true whenever X (there
is a 
> >tie)
> >is false. If the probability that there is no tie is 99%, then b
will be 
> >true
> >at least 99% of the time.
> 
> So you're saying that b is true when it isn't making any prediction
> about Y. When X is false, b says nothing true about whether Y is
> true, and says nothing false about whether Y is true. And you claim
> that b is true when it isn't taking a position about Y.

That's the way "if" is used in mathematics.  I hope that we choose
mathematical usage over common usage because common usage is not
well-defined, and tends to be less convenient.

---
Blake Cretney