Sufficient and Necessary

 A is necessary for B means:

A must be true whenever B is true


e.g, being a mammal (clause A) is necessary to be a human (clause B)


in order words, if human, then mammal, 

or if not mammal, then not human

so if B then A




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A is sufficient for B means:

whenever A is satisfied, B must be satisfied


e.g. if some number is rational (clause A), then it is sufficient for that number to be a real number (clause B)


or in order words, if A, then B




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so if you want if A and B  AND   if B then A   to be true simultaneously


then A must be sufficient for B, and A must be necessary for B


e.g.

A: today is fourth of July

B: today is independence Day in USA


if today is fourth of July, it is sufficient to infer that today is independence day  ( A => B )


if today is fourth of July is necessary for today to be independence day

which is another way of saying, ( B => A )




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so wait, you might ask


why are both sufficient and necessary conditions qualities of clause A?

why don't we define necessary in terms of some condition of clause B?


no idea, but that's just how it is. 



on the flip side, you can now express everything concisely. 


Instead of having to say, A is sufficient for B AND B is sufficient for A, thus A <=> B


you can now say A is necessary and sufficient for B, thus A <=>B


which means, A is both enough to show B, and is a consequence of B




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NOTE: A is sufficient for B   is equivalent to   B is necessary for A


so if you say, A is sufficient for B, then by trivial logic, B is necessary for A, meaning B must happen whenever A happens. 




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