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17. what is necessary and sufficient

Abhijit Bhandarkar
Abhijit Bhandarkar

The document discusses the concepts of necessary and sufficient conditions. It provides examples to illustrate the difference. A necessary condition is one that must be present for a result to occur, but by itself is not sufficient to produce the result. For example, fuel is necessary but not sufficient to create a fire - oxygen and a spark are also needed. Only when all necessary conditions are present together are the conditions sufficient to produce the desired result. The document uses examples of reducing input costs to increase margins and the conditions needed for fire to explain necessary versus sufficient conditions.

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Keur Knowledge Centre Article # 2020/17 www.keur.in What is Necessary & Sufficient While managing companies, sometimes you face a situation where some actions are taken expecting a particular result & then you find that expected result didnt materialise. In such situations, it could be a problem of sufficiency. For eg. suppose you reduced cost of input material that goes into your product & because of that, you were expecting your margin earned will increase (Figure 3). When you check your Profit & Loss statement, you find that margin has not increased. What happened? It means that only this single action of reducing input material cost was not sufficient to increase margin. Something else is required along with it & that something else is missing (Figure-4). It could be that Sales price was reduced (by giving more discount to clients). Thus, we have one more Necessary condition so as to get increase in margin earned Dont increase discount. These conditions together, will then give desired result. Whenever you dont get expected result, check for missing Necessary conditions to achieve sufficiency. Let us take one example which we discussed in article no. 15, about relationship between actions & results. In Figure-2 above, to get result (fire), we need to take three actions (provide fuel, oxygen and spark). These three actions (hereafter we will call them conditions) when present together, will give the result. When we go from Result to Actions, it is called Necessary conditions. For eg. from Fire we can go to Fuel which is one of the three conditions. So, we can say, Fuel is a Necessary condition to get Fire. However it is not Sufficient to get Fire. Why? Because it is only one of the three conditions required to be present together, to cause Fire. Thus, Fuel is Necessary but not Sufficient to cause Fire. Similarly, from Fire we can go to Oxygen or Spark. Like Fuel, Oxygen is Necessary but not Sufficient to cause Fire. Similarly, Spark is Necessary but not Sufficient to cause Fire. Thus, each of the three conditions, individually, are Necessary but not Sufficient to cause Fire. When we go from Actions to Result, it is called Sufficient conditions. All three conditions (Fuel, Oxygen and Spark) together are Sufficient conditions to cause Fire. When we say Sufficient it means no other condition is required. Thus, we can say that these three conditions are Necessary And Sufficient conditions to cause Fire.

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17. what is necessary and sufficient

  • 1. Keur Knowledge Centre Article # 2020/17 www.keur.in What is Necessary & Sufficient While managing companies, sometimes you face a situation where some actions are taken expecting a particular result & then you find that expected result didnt materialise. In such situations, it could be a problem of sufficiency. For eg. suppose you reduced cost of input material that goes into your product & because of that, you were expecting your margin earned will increase (Figure 3). When you check your Profit & Loss statement, you find that margin has not increased. What happened? It means that only this single action of reducing input material cost was not sufficient to increase margin. Something else is required along with it & that something else is missing (Figure-4). It could be that Sales price was reduced (by giving more discount to clients). Thus, we have one more Necessary condition so as to get increase in margin earned Dont increase discount. These conditions together, will then give desired result. Whenever you dont get expected result, check for missing Necessary conditions to achieve sufficiency. Let us take one example which we discussed in article no. 15, about relationship between actions & results. In Figure-2 above, to get result (fire), we need to take three actions (provide fuel, oxygen and spark). These three actions (hereafter we will call them conditions) when present together, will give the result. When we go from Result to Actions, it is called Necessary conditions. For eg. from Fire we can go to Fuel which is one of the three conditions. So, we can say, Fuel is a Necessary condition to get Fire. However it is not Sufficient to get Fire. Why? Because it is only one of the three conditions required to be present together, to cause Fire. Thus, Fuel is Necessary but not Sufficient to cause Fire. Similarly, from Fire we can go to Oxygen or Spark. Like Fuel, Oxygen is Necessary but not Sufficient to cause Fire. Similarly, Spark is Necessary but not Sufficient to cause Fire. Thus, each of the three conditions, individually, are Necessary but not Sufficient to cause Fire. When we go from Actions to Result, it is called Sufficient conditions. All three conditions (Fuel, Oxygen and Spark) together are Sufficient conditions to cause Fire. When we say Sufficient it means no other condition is required. Thus, we can say that these three conditions are Necessary And Sufficient conditions to cause Fire.