The Mathematics of Tenure, Car Lights, and Logic Gates
In a state office, an employee maybe tenured if (1) he has passed the Career Service Examination, or (2) he has worked as a probationary employee for more than 10 years.
Notice that the employee maybe tenured if either one of the conditions above is satisfied. He may also be tenured if both conditions are satisfied. If we create a table and rephrase the statements above to question form, we can see that the only reason for an employee not to be tenured is if the answer to both questions is NO.
The first table is also the same as the table shown below. In the second table, the situation describes the relationship between a car’s ceiling light and its two doors. Unless the ceiling light is turned on or off manually, it will always be ON if both doors or one of the two doors is open. The only time that the light will be OFF is if the two doors are shut. » Read more