4 ms·
Seems the discrepancy is more related to whether the “not” is applied like: !A && !B && !C or: !(A && B && C) which the informed readers knows is equiva
by 0xDEFACED 3y ago
Seems the discrepancy is more related to whether the “not” is applied like:
!A && !B && !C
or:
!(A && B && C)
which the informed readers knows is equivalent to
!A || !B || !C
So a little more nuanced than what “and” means. This article would have been great to use in a lesson in the logic unit when I used to teach geometry.
- hackernewds 3y agoFascinating. Thank you for sharing this very palatable analogy, instantly spoke my language
- oldbbsnickname 3y agoBe good, or I shall inflict a 7..<10-variable Karnaugh map on thee. ;)
- tgv 3y agoFrom a linguistic standpoint, that’s a rather large nuance. Scoping is commonly accepted to be ambiguous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scope_(formal_semantics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scope_(formal_semantics)
- hackernewds 3y agoThis is where the Oxford Comma, largely not adopted in the US, is your friend
- gnicholas 3y agoReally? I see it here all the time. It's also apparently preferred by the majority of Americans, by polling: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/elitist-superfluous-or-popular-we-polled-americans-on-the-oxford-comma/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/elitist-superfluous-or-...
- oldbbsnickname 3y agoI love the Harvard comma because it creates a balanced list. For certain sentences, semicolons are sometimes needed in lieu of commas to introduce greater grouping when formatted text is unavailable: Mary visited New York City, New York; Chicago, Illinois; and San Francisco, California.
- bumby 3y agoAlternatively, according to Kurt Vonnegut: >"Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college."
- oldbbsnickname 3y agoWell, that's impractical pseudo-advice stemming from another kind of snobbery: that of ostentatious, pseudo-anti-intellectualism layered with a patina of confrontational, extravagant language like a 2nd-year English major trying to impress. Been There; Saw That; Bought The T-Shirt.
- bumby 3y agoI think you are taking it a little too seriously. Vonnegut joked around a lot. His signature was purposefully designed to look like an asshole. I wouldn’t read so much into it.
- chongli 3y agoYes, this is one of De Morgan’s laws. When I read the legislation I interpreted it to mean that the negation distributed over the conjunction, resulting in a disjunction. Insisting that the conjunction survives is faulty logic!
- TheCoelacanth 3y agoIt's faulty logic when working in a formal language. The English language that the laws are written in is unfortunately ambiguous in this case.
- firebat45 3y agoThe two examples in the article are "Don't drink and drive" vs "the patient shouldn’t eat any food, drink any liquids, and smoke". It seems abundantly clear to me that the second example is poorly worded and should say "or" instead of "and". The same goes for the actual court case. Arguing that "and" actually means "or" makes very little sense.