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# Converse, Inverse, and Contrapositive

## Conditional statements drawn from an if-then statement.

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Converse, Inverse, and Contrapositive

### Converse, Inverse, and Contrapositive

Consider the statement: If the weather is nice, then I’ll wash the car. We can rewrite this statement using letters to represent the hypothesis and conclusion.

Now the statement is: If , then , which can also be written as .

We can also make the negations, or “nots,” of and . The symbolic version of "not " is .

Using these “nots” and switching the order of and , we can create three new statements.

If the “if-then” statement is true, then the contrapositive is also true. The contrapositive is logically equivalent to the original statement. The converse and inverse may or may not be true. When the original statement and converse are both true then the statement is a biconditional statement. In other words, if is true and is true, then (said “ if and only if ”).

What if you were given a conditional statement like "If I walk to school, then I will be late"? How could you rearrange and/or negate this statement to form new conditional statements?

### Examples

#### Example 1

If , then .

Find the converse, inverse, and contrapositive. Determine if each resulting statement is true or false. If it is false, find a counterexample.

The original statement is true.

#### Example 2

If I am at Disneyland, then I am in California.

Find the converse, inverse, and contrapositive. Determine if each resulting statement is true or false. If it is false, find a counterexample.

The original statement is true.

Notice for the converse and inverse we can use the same counterexample.

#### Example 3

Rewrite as a biconditional statement: Any two points are collinear.

This statement can be rewritten as:

Two points are on the same line if and only if they are collinear. Replace the “if-then” with “if and only if” in the middle of the statement.

#### Example 4

Any two points are collinear.

Find the converse, inverse, and contrapositive. Determine if each resulting statement is true or false. If it is false, find a counterexample.

First, change the statement into an “if-then” statement:

If two points are on the same line, then they are collinear.

#### Example 5

The following is a true statement:

if and only if is an obtuse angle.

Determine the two true statements within this biconditional.

Statement 1: If , then is an obtuse angle.

Statement 2: If is an obtuse angle, then .

### Review

For questions 1-4, use the statement:

If and , then is the midpoint of .

1. Is this a true statement? If not, what is a counterexample?
2. Find the converse of this statement. Is it true?
3. Find the inverse of this statement. Is it true?
4. Find the contrapositive of this statement. Which statement is it the same as?

Find the converse of each true if-then statement. If the converse is true, write the biconditional statement.

1. An acute angle is less than .
2. If you are at the beach, then you are sun burnt.
3. If , then .

For questions 8-10, determine the two true conditional statements from the given biconditional statements.

1. A U.S. citizen can vote if and only if he or she is 18 or more years old.
2. A whole number is prime if and only if its factors are 1 and itself.
3. if and only if .

To see the Review answers, open this PDF file and look for section 2.4.

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Color Highlighted Text Notes

### Vocabulary Language: English

biconditional statement

A statement is biconditional if the original conditional statement and the converse statement are both true.

Conditional Statement

A conditional statement (or 'if-then' statement) is a statement with a hypothesis followed by a conclusion.

contrapositive

If a conditional statement is $p \rightarrow q$ (if $p$ then $q$), then the contrapositive is $\sim q \rightarrow \sim p$ (if not $q$ then not $p$).

converse

If a conditional statement is $p \rightarrow q$ (if $p$, then $q$), then the converse is $q \rightarrow p$ (if $q$, then $p$. Note that the converse of a statement is not true just because the original statement is true.

inverse

If a conditional statement is $p \rightarrow q$, then the inverse is $\sim p \rightarrow \sim q$.

Logically Equivalent

A statement is logically equivalent if the "if-then" statement and the contrapositive statement are both true.

premise

A premise is a starting statement that you use to make logical conclusions.