Advanced Conditional and Binary

[monicaiannacone]

I've hit a road block with advanced conditionals which means I'm confused with most Binary games (and get them backwards when diagraming).

What's the best Manhattan LSAT resources to reinforce advanced conditionals and grasp this concept? I've tried the Advanced Conditionals Lab but found some of it more confusing. I've also watched the class lesson and LG Chapters 5 and 6.

Thanks!

[timmydoeslsat]

If you could post specific situations that are troubling you, I think your problem can be solved faster.

For example, if I were to say:

A or B ---> C

Could you state what the contrapositive of that is?

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Hi Monica! So Timmy brought up one challenge with those binary grouping games, which is the possibility of "or" or "and" statements on either side of the conditional. One rule to remember there is that "either/or" language in the constraint implies an "or" statement, whereas "neither/nor" language in the constraint implies an "and" statement.

But I think another issue is determining which of the conditions is the trigger and which is the outcome. You may want to reference some of the following words that help you organize conditional statements. Use the following set of words to help you reference sufficiency and necessity.

[chike_eze]

Good questions to ask:

1. What condition depends on the other? O, I see, X depends on Y, therefore Y is necessary (X -> Y )
2. If and only if? Okay, the arrow goes both ways
3. Unless? Okay, negate one condition and make it sufficient
4. Except, Until, Without? Aha! Unless.
5. Cannot, Never? Okay, negate one condition and make it necessary

Of course, this is a simplification, but it helps.

The conditionals that took me a while to wrap my head around (come to think of it, I still have issues with them) are the variations of "Either X or Y".

X or Y
not both X and Y
Either X or Y but not both

X or Y = not X -> Y
not both X and Y = X -> not Y
Either X or Y but not both = not X <-> Y