I’m sorry if this seems dumb. I tend to take things literally and “mutual” and “exclusive” seem to be antonyms but mutually exclusive is a term used a lot and it confuses the crap out of me. I’m a native English speaker also.
Does it mean that the two things CAN exist together? I feel like my brain does gymnastics trying to understand the term; I’m not a dumb person but this term just totally eludes me!
Please don’t attack me, just trying to not feel stupid.
In: 49
“Mutually exclusive” means either one can negate the other.
If the waiter asks if you want “soup or salad,” the options are mutually exclusive, because if you order soup it means no salad, and if you order salad it means soup.
Sometimes, an option is exclusive of another option, but they aren’t not mutually exclusive. for example “it is not raining” is not mutually exclusive with “the ground is not wet”. It is possible for the ground to be wet from a sprinkler or a flood. So “it is not raining” is exclusive of “the ground is not wet,” since raining makes the ground wet, but it is not *mutually* exclusive.
Latest Answers