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General questions relating to LSAT Logical Reasoning.
 Marce
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#33046
On pg. 2-59 from the online course book,

Ana will attend IF AND ONLY IF Basil attends.

1. A if B: is diagrammed as, B->A (WHY?)
&
2. A only if B: is diagrammed as, A->B

I DONT UNDERSTAND why 1. is diagrammed as B->A it sounds like B is the necessary condition, if A occurs then B must occur, PLEASE CLARIFY!! THANK YOUUU! :)
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 Dave Killoran
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#33075
Hi Marce,

Thanks for the question! The double arrow can be tough to learn at first, so I'll post a quick answer here to get you started, and then come back in an hour or two and expand on it a bit more. If you have further questions in the meantime after reading this, just post them below and I'll answer those too :-D

The key is the placement of the conditional indicators ("if" & "only if") in the sentence. "If" is a sufficient condition indicator, so whatever it modifies will be the sufficient condition; "only if" is a necessary condition indicator so whatever it modifies will be the necessary condition. Knowing that is the first step to breaking this down systematically.

Now, to make things further confusing, "if and only if" is two statements combined into one sentence. It looks like this when separated out:

..... ..... ..... A if B

..... ..... ..... and

..... ..... ..... A only if B


Ok, with those two parts isolated, we can diagram each portion. Let's start with: "A if B"

  • "If" modifies B, so B is the sufficient condition. The remainder, A, is the necessary condition, leading to the following diagram:

    ..... ..... ..... B :arrow: A

    It "looks" backwards, but according to the logic it's correct. Tricky, right?

The second portion is: "A only if B"

  • "Only if" modifies B, and "only if" introduces a necessary condition, so B is the necessary condition. The remainder, A, is then the sufficient condition, leading to the following diagram:

    ..... ..... ..... A :arrow: B

Returning to our first view of the sentence, all of the above info combined appears as:


..... ..... ..... A if B: ..... B :arrow: A

..... ..... ..... and

..... ..... ..... A only if B: ..... A :arrow: B


When we add those two arrow diagrams together, the result is our friendly double-arrow:


..... ..... ..... A :dbl: B


That's a start, and please let me know if that helps. I'll add a few more links and additional info to this in just a bit, to help lock in the idea :-D

Thanks!
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 Dave Killoran
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#33082
As a followup, here are some additional links that address the double arrow and/or related topics:


Although those aren't solely about the double-arrow, I think those will help broaden your understanding of the concepts in play. Thanks and good luck!
 Marce
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#33085
Hi Dave,
Thanks for the thorough explanation, I understand now :-D .
Can you look into my conditional linkage question posted earlier today as well! Thanks.
 JewelAlex
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  • Joined: Apr 03, 2017
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#33871
I need to clarify something with the double arrow:

If B -> A
And A -> B

Then couldn't B <-> A also be an answer?

Does it matter which condition is placed first once the double arrow is brought into the scenario?

Thank you!
 Steven Palmer
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#33907
Hi JewelAlex,

I believe you're exactly right! The idea with these double arrows is that A and B are both sufficient and necessary. You could definitely write it as either A <-> B or B <-> A. Regardless, we know that whenever A occurs, B is also occurring, and whenever B occurs, A is also occurring. The double arrow links them together, removing the importance on order.

Hope this helps!

Steven
 JewelAlex
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#34185
Thank you so much!!

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