What is conditional statement?
A conditional statement, often used in logic and programming, is a statement that asserts a relationship between two propositions, typically referred to as the “antecedent” and the “consequent.” It follows an “if-then” format, where the antecedent is the condition that must be met, and the consequent is the outcome that follows if the condition is satisfied.
For example, in the conditional statement “If it is raining, then grass will be wet” the antecedent is “it is raining,” and the consequent is “the grass will be wet.” This statement indicates that the action wet grass is contingent upon the condition of it raining.
Conditional statements are often represented symbolically as “p → q,” where “p” represents the antecedent (the premise or condition), and “q” represents the consequent (the conclusion or outcome). In logic, the truth value of the conditional statement depends on whether the antecedent is true and whether the consequent follows logically from it.
In logic with conditional statements you can come to a conclusions. “if p then q. Not q then not p”
For example in statement:”if x then snowing”. We can prove that if not snow then for sure not x (modus tollens). That does not mean that “if snow than for sure x “because it can snow also for other reasons y, z and not just because of x.
What happens whit more complex statements statement which are closer to real live situations ?
In literature of explaining modus tollens is often mentioned Sherlock Holmes and his mastermind of deductive logic. (book Arguments 4th edition)
if the visitor were a stranger, then the dog would have barked
the dog did not bark
therefore, the visitor was not a stranger.
Sherlock Holmes, and all the readers with him, maybe on this way of reasoning come to a conclusion, that murderer was someone who is not a stranger. But what is wrong with this conclusion? It is logically valid (“if p then q. Not q then not p”) but it is also valid in real life situations? Can we come to a conclusion, that visitor was not a stranger because dog did not bark. In my opinion conclusion is wrong. Why? Because beauty of a language form can easily miss logical equivalent. What is precedent and what consequent? Barking must be consequent for some cause (for example stranger entering house) and not other way around. Stranger does not appear at the door because dog is barking. Therefore a premise if the visitor were a stranger , then the dog would have barked should be formed if the dog bark, then the visitor is stranger.
Let now change or switch a statements for “p” and “q” and see what happen.
If the dog bark, then the visitor is a stranger
the visitor is not a stranger
therefore the dog did not bark
This is completely other conclusion. At first example we came to conclusion that visitor was not a stranger and with second example we come to a conclusion that the dog did not bark.
Now we put for granted that visitor is not a stranger and therefore we can come to a valid conclusion that therefore dog did not bark( because dog bark when the visitor is stranger). Sherlock Holmes put for granted (premise 2) that visitor is not a stranger so obviously he dont need any logic behind that stance. He put it for granted and therefore he did not come with deduction to that conclusion. ( at the end that murderer is not a stranger can be right by chance but not by logic. )
What all this has to do with football or sports?
Coaches make decisions, a lot of decisions and try to evaluate a different scenarios with if-then statements. If we try to work with this methodology then we would have this result. If we put this player on that pitch zone collaborate with other on this task then we would have this result. And so on and so on. Football is not a science because decisions are not purely derived from logic. Decisions and executions made a difference in a pitch. For good result it does not matter if we made good decision by chance or by logic. All its matters is that you feel good when you come to valid conclusion which can also be true. (An ego statement).
in first example we put for granted that dog did not bark and come to conclusion that therefore visitor was not a stranger. That is completely wrong conclusion. To put it more clear let give other example where you can easily see difference between antecedent and consequent.
If the rooster crow then sunrise
There is no sunrise
therefore the rooster did not crow.
In this statement we clearly see what we do not understand antecedent and consequent. The sunrise will happen with or without rooster crowing so we can not use conditional statement “if-then” in this case.
More we use complex language forms in our conversation more we must be aware of symbolic value or language. We are using language to express thoughts, feeling, ideas but for making logically valid conclusion we must use more simple form and transfer language to mathematical form. In computing and programming this is more simple but in real life situations we easily trap our self to wrong conclusions.
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