Encyclopedia > Conditional

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A conditional statement, or simply a conditional for short, is an "if-then" statement, written in the form: 'if P, then Q'. Here, 'P' is the antecedent (the "if" part of the statement) and 'Q' is the consequent (the "then" part). For example, in "If you give me ten dollars, then I will be your best friend," the claim "you give me ten dollars" is the antecedent of the conditional, and "I will be your best friend" is the consequent.

In traditional logic, a statement if A then B is true if and only if either A is false or B is true, or both. There have been attempts in areas such as modal logic[?] to find a formal definition that is closer to the 'intuitive' meaning: In the traditional logic interpretation "If it is raining now, then I am a unicorn." is true provided it is not raining now.


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