Material Condition formula

[mikebispham]

Hi,

I'm a student taking philosophical thinking, which includes using truth
tables of the functions AND, OR, IF, NOT.

It isn't part of he course, but I've been playing around with excel
logical functions, and have all working except the 'material condition'
if. Rather, I have got it working, but only by doing a 2 stage
calculation along the lines of:

1 =IF(B11=C11,TRUE)
2 =OR(C11,D11)

Can anyone tell me; a) is there a simpler way to do this, and/or b) how
does one go about nesting these so that it can be done in one go?

I'd be very grateful for any steers at all,

Mike (UK)

 

[Arvi Laanemets]

Hi

=IF(OR(B11=C11,B11=D11),TRUE,FALSE)
=IF(AND(B11=C11,B11>D11),TRUE,FALSE)

, but because you want logical values to be returned, use better
=OR(B11=C11,B11=D11)
=AND(B11=C11,B11>D11)


Arvi Laanemets


"mikebispham" <[email protected]>
wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

 

[mikebispham]

Hi Arvi and thanks,

Is there no way to do this in a single move - just testing two cells
and returning true/false to a third?

Mike

 

[Arvi Laanemets]

"mikebispham" <[email protected]>
wrote in message

Hi Arvi and thanks,

Is there no way to do this in a single move - just testing two cells
and returning true/false to a third?

Doh ???

There were simply 2 different examples - one with AND used, and other with
OR - you didn't give any details what you actually needed. You use either
one or another, or create your own.

And a formula can't return something elsewhere - you must have the formula
in cell, where you want it's result to be displayed.


Arvi Laanemets

 

[mikebispham]

Sorry to be so dim Arvi - I did say I was a beginner

What I mean here is that both the examples you give employ data from 3
different cells (B, C, and D).

What I want is to take a value TRUE/FALSE from, say, A1 and B1, and
have TRUE/FALSE displayed in C1.

The formula will, as you say, reside in C1

Is that possible?

If I can stretch your patience yet further, a similar formular for the
bi-conditional would also be great!

Thanks so much, I really am very grateful,

Mike

 

[Arvi Laanemets]

Hi


"mikebispham" <[email protected]>
wrote in message

Sorry to be so dim Arvi - I did say I was a beginner

What I mean here is that both the examples you give employ data from 3
different cells (B, C, and D).

What I want is to take a value TRUE/FALSE from, say, A1 and B1, and
have TRUE/FALSE displayed in C1.

The formula will, as you say, reside in C1

Exactly!



Is that possible?

If I can stretch your patience yet further, a similar formular for the
bi-conditional would also be great!

Here I did lost you again! More details, please!
Asking questions here, you get answers faster, when you:
1. describe, what you have initially and where (like 'I have values in cells
A2 and B2');
2. explain, what do you want get (like 'I want TRUE returned whenevwer both
values are equal and not empty').
(and don't use any termins which can interpreted differently by others -
p.e. I have no clue how to desipher this bi-conditional formula)


Arvi Laanemets

 

[mikebispham]

Hi Arvi

The result I'm looking for (in the first instance) is the truth-table
for what is known in philosophy as the 'material condition':

TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE FALSE FALSE
FALSE TRUE TRUE
FALSE FALSE TRUE

The third column (C) results from the combination of the first two, and
is ideally where the formula should reside. Its symbolised (in
philosophy) by A(arrow) B

Your "=OR(B11=C11,B11=A11)" works when the first column is B, the A
left blank and the results and formular in D

Your formular "=IF(OR(B11=C11,B11=D11),TRUE,FALSE)" works if D is left
blank and the formular placed in E... (or elsewhere)

I can't make the other two produce the right result. I'd prefer a
tidier solution where the formular residing in C tests A and B.

_______

The bi-conditional, written A(arrow pointing both ways)B produces the
following truth-table:

TRUE TRUE TRUE
TRUE FALSE FALSE
FALSE TRUE FALSE
FALSE FALSE TRUE

It means 'if and only if' (sometimes written iff). As you can see it
just wants to know if both A and B are the same.

I do hope that helps, and I'm sorry I don't know the lingo. As I say
I'm a philosophy student, and I'm using the terms I've been taught for
purposes of 'logical thinking'. We're supposed to apply these tests to
the components or arguments written in english, in order to discover if
they are 'sound' and 'valid'.

Again, thanks so very much for your help this far!

Mike

 

[Arvi Laanemets]

Hi

Into C1 enter
=OR(A1=B1,B1)
and copy down?

At least it returns wanted result for your example data. To get a true
answer, you have to ask better. This particular formula is an answer to a
task:
"Find the formula, which returns TRUE, whenever both entries in column A and
B are same (TRUE OR FALSE), or when the entry in column B is TRUE". As you
easily can see, a task set properly often contains an answer.

Arvi Laanemets


"mikebispham" <[email protected]>
wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

 

[Dana DeLouis]

As a side note to the op, I believe your table is asking "does x imply y ?"
Unfortunately, Excel's worksheet functions do not have an "Imply" function.
However, there is one in Excel' vba. Arvi's example is better, but just for
reference...

Function Implies(x, y) As Boolean
Implies = x Imp y
End Function

 

[Dana DeLouis]

TRUE TRUE TRUE
As a side note, other definitions of A Implies B (A ->B) are
=OR(NOT(A1),B1)