Choices

[mike_j]

Please help to settle a niggling argument

You have to decide on an event which can have one of two outcomes A or B

do you have one choice or two choices?

In other words is the choice A OR B (one choice)
or is it choice 1 = A AND choice 2 = B (two choices)

[beejaybee]

Two possibilities, one choice.

[Zou]

You have one choice. There is a choice of two outcomes.

[Benchista]

Please help to settle a niggling argument

You have to decide on an event which can have one of two outcomes A or B

do you have one choice or two choices?

In other words is the choice A OR B (one choice)
or is it choice 1 = A AND choice 2 = B (two choices)

Depends on how many goes you get...

[MartyG]

Or unless it's locked in a box, in which case it's both outcomes until you look

[Malcolm_Stewart]

Schrödinger's cat?

[GeoffR]

Schrödinger's cat?

That was what I thought

[Cuthbert]

Or unless it's locked in a box, in which case it's both outcomes until you look

I got quite perturbed and ended up running around in little circles thinking about the superposition of quantum states...

... in fact, I got into a Schrödinger's cat-flap!

[Catriona]

You also have the choice not to choose.

Your wording was also:
"You have to decide on an event which can have one of two outcomes A or B"
so
you have to make the decision on an event.

One choice.

But also
Do it - or not?
Two choices!
The outcome depends on your choice...........

Choose and the outcome is still A or B
Choose not to choose?
Hmm!

[Atavar]

Until you take the choice, you have both A and B. But after the choice has been taken you had either choice A or B. So prior to action being taken, you had two courses of action to choose between, but after you only have single choices, which was the one taken and the one not taken...

Mmmm, temporal verbs.

[TH-Photos]

Better than the options left to Mr Hobson.

[spinno]

What about proportional representation?

[Catriona]

Talking of choice/s......

I note Round 4 of APOY is:

At dawn and dusk.

Now, is someone looking for a merged two image composite?
Do we have two choices?
Do I?

[john_g]

English (or, at least, the people who speak it!) tends to be remarkably casual about "either", "and, "or", "neither", "nor" and such words. How the words should be used in their strict logical sense is best demonstrated using truth tables. In the following examples there are two inputs, A and B, whose condition is either a logic 0 or logic 1 (or False or True, if you prefer). Truth tables are a quick way of summarising all possible states of a logic circuit - here the two binary inputs mean that there are four possible input combinations, hence four lines in the following tables.

AND:
A B OUTPUT
0 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1

OR:
A B OUTPUT
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 1

EXCLUSIVE OR (which is EITHER A OR B, but not both together):
A B OUTPUT
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0

NOR (which is NOT OR i.e. the inverse output of OR):
A B OUTPUT
0 0 1
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 0

NAND (which is NOT AND i.e. the inverse output of AND)
A B OUTPUT
0 0 1
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0

These are the basic building blocks of most logic circuits, including computers.

The situation you have described is the OR scenario. The confusion arises because you have said that you can choose A and B but, of course, you can't - you are betting on the outcome, which can only be A or B. In other words, you have two choices (because there are two possible outcomes), but this means that you are always choosing A OR B, and can never choose A AND B.

[Catriona]

English (or, at least, the people who speak it!) tends to be remarkably casual about "either", "and, "or", "neither", "nor" and such words. How the words should be used in their strict logical sense is best demonstrated using truth tables. In the following examples there are two inputs, A and B, whose condition is either a logic 0 or logic 1 (or False or True, if you prefer). Truth tables are a quick way of summarising all possible states of a logic circuit - here the two binary inputs mean that there are four possible input combinations, hence four lines in the following tables.

AND:
A B OUTPUT
0 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1

OR:
A B OUTPUT
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 1

EXCLUSIVE OR (which is EITHER A OR B, but not both together):
A B OUTPUT
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0

NOR (which is NOT OR i.e. the inverse output of OR):
A B OUTPUT
0 0 1
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 0

NAND (which is NOT AND i.e. the inverse output of AND)
A B OUTPUT
0 0 1
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0

These are the basic building blocks of most logic circuits, including computers.

The situation you have described is the OR scenario. The confusion arises because you have said that you can choose A and B but, of course, you can't - you are betting on the outcome, which can only be A or B. In other words, you have two choices (because there are two possible outcomes), but this means that you are always choosing A OR B, and can never choose A AND B.

Bravo!
Nice one John.
I'm reminded of using Cobol, which used to give me great pleasure in the use of logic in the 1980s! lol

[Oggy]

Herein lies the difference between a Boolean and a single bit.