Statement Negation Drill #9

[cecilia]

Hello - I was wondering if the answer to #9 on p. 361 of the newest edition could also be expressed as:

The economy can recover this year, even if the stock market doesn't rebound.

Thanks in advance.

[Adam Tyson]

I think you're looking at a statement that reads "Unless the stock market rebounds, the economy will not recover this year."

If so, first recognize that "unless" is one of your special necessary condition indicators, and it triggers the "Unless Equation". This means that the stock market rebounding is your Necessary Condition. The other element in that statement, "the economy will not recover", must be negated to create your Sufficient Condition - turn "not recover" into "recover". That gets you this: "If the economy recovers then the stock market rebounded", or ER --> SMR.

Now, with all that done, the goal of that drill was to negate that conditional statement. The best way (the only way?) to negate a conditional statement is to show that the necessary condition is not actually necessary. In other words, show that the economy can recover (ER) even if the stock market does not rebound (SMR).

In other words, you got it just right! Nice job.

[cecilia]

Thanks Adam!