Question

Is the italicized phrase a necessary condition or a sufficient condition, or both?

1. To bring down a fever, apply a cloth dampened in cold water to the patient’s face, arms, and legs.

2. You cannot get an A average unless you work hard throughout the whole term.

3. To be admitted as a graduate student, applicants must have a four-year honors degree with a 75-per-cent average on all courses taken in their last two years.

4. In Canada only Canadian citizens can be elected prime minister.

5. You have to have good physical coordination to be a good skier.

6. The results of a departmental vote are valid if, and only if, at least 25 per cent of members are present at the meeting in which the vote took place.

7. Essays will be returned to the student without being graded, if they are submitted without a proper bibliography.

Answer 1

A necessary condition and a sufficient condition are two important ways to find out the actual meaning of a sentence and they also define whether the reasons are definite or not. We get confused and often misunderstand the conditions. A necessary condition is an inseparable part of the happenings and it waits for the event to happen where the sufficient condition produces the event. But that doesn't mean the event is impossible without sufficient condition.

1) Here the italicized phrase of the first sentence tells about what we should do while treating a patient who is suffering from fever and by applying a cloth dampened in cold water on his or her head she or he can get relief and considering the meaning of the conditions it is an example of sufficient condition because the remedy is not the ultimate thing from which we can decide the person has to be ill whenever he applies a wet cloth on his head. The fever can go away by taking medicines as well.

2) In the second sentence, we can get an idea of the importance of hard work that a student should do. Its a good advice to be followed and we can't get success by choosing a shortcut way and therefore the phrase belongs to the necessary condition as it is important that we must understand we can't get A grade so easily and hard work necessarily should present there so that we can get a good outcome.

3) In the third one, it is obviously a necessary condition because it is saying that to get admission in college we have to score 75% average on all courses and that is a must so by taking any alternative way we won't be able to be a graduate student. Without this condition this can't happen.

4) In the fourth sentence, the italicized phrase is the example of necessary condition because one cant be a elected prime minister if he or she is not a canadian citizen though other criterias are also important. But it is necessary and it's their law.