#How do I even go about solving this?

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gloomy zealot
warped citrusBOT
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hasty pewter
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Uhh.. Although I'm a java beginner, I do have a thought. Since !(a==c), E is not right. Same thing with D, since a==b doesn't match a<b, nor does it guarantee for a<c and !(a==c) to match This goes the same way with C. For B, a<b matches, but it isn't guaranteed for !(a==c).

A, although, shows a<c, matching the first condition, a<c || a<b, and matches the condition !(a==c) because it has to be smaller. Therefore, the answer is A.

..At least that's what I think. I hope this helped!

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@gloomy zealot

wooden tundra
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How do I even go about solving this?
the expression given can be reduced quite a bit, using some identities
||a < c or a < b && a != c||||spread the or into the and operation:(a < c or a < b) && (a < c or a != c)||||reduce: (a < c or a < b) && a < c||||from this you can see that a < c is necessary and sufficient for the condition to evaluate to true. you could reduce it further to prove it but this is enough to see it easily||
(|| replaced with or because it was breaking the spoilers, sorry.)

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as damku showed, since this is multiple choice, process of elimination works well here, but it won't work for real-use stuff, for which you'd narrow it with a strategy like i described.

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"prepositional logic" is the relevant field here

thorny lion
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even tho

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by the short circuiting principle, if you have a OR b, if a is true, the entire expression is true. Therefore A is the correct answer.

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if a < c is true then the entire proposition is true

wooden tundra
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lmao yeah that's much simpler for this case

gloomy zealot
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Oh yeah I've never been good with truth tables

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these type of questions really trip me up

gloomy zealot
gloomy zealot
wooden tundra
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no, due to operator precedence, the expression there is a < c || (a < b && !(a == c))

wooden tundra
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shouldve explained that more clearly, mb

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wait shit that's wrong

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yeah i got nothing, i shouldn't be doing support this late lol

gloomy zealot
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all good lol

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I think I kind of get what thomas is saying

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thanks for the help!

warped citrusBOT
# gloomy zealot thanks for the help!

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wooden tundra
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thomas' solution is the right way to analyze this expression

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it's ultimately the same reduction i was aiming for, i just failed to execute that properly lol