Definition:Conditional Equation

Definition

A conditional equation is an equation whose truth value depends on the values attained by the variables it contains.

Examples

Arbitrary Example

The equation:

$3 x + y = 7$

is a conditional equation as its truth value depends on the values of $x$ and $y$.

For example:

if $x = 2$ and $y = 1$, the equation is true

if $x = 1$ and $y = 2$, the equation is false.

Also see

• Results about conditional equations can be found here.

Sources

• 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): conditional equation
• 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): equation
• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): conditional equation
• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): equation