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Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Mathematics/2017 June 26

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June 26

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But as logical operator

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What logical operator can be associated to the coordinating conjunction but from natural language? (Thanks.)--82.137.14.217 (talk) 22:33, 26 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]

In English, "but" logically means the same as "and", with a non-logical implication that the second word or phrase somehow contradicts the first word or phrase. CodeTalker (talk) 01:22, 27 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]
If you mean "not X but Y", you would just use two statements: "~X", and "Y". However, unless "~X" has logical import for the deduction, you'd usually just say "Y". If they are related, as in "~X therefore Y", that would be a single logical proposition. In other words, the conjunction "but" can have different meanings, and you'd need to pick the one that best matches your assumptions.OldTimeNESter (talk) 13:40, 27 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]