Meaning of biconditional connective – UGC NET Question

The phrase “p if and only if q” asserts both “if p, then q” and “if q, then p”. In propositional logic, this two-way connection is expressed by the biconditional connective. A biconditional is true exactly when both components share the same truth value. Therefore the compound statement in the stem is called a biconditional.

Option A:
Option A, disjunction, joins statements with “or” and does not require them to share truth values. It lacks the two-way commitment of “if and only if”. Thus disjunction is not the correct answer.

Option B:
Option B, implication, represents the one-way conditional “if p, then q”. It does not capture the reverse implication from q to p. Hence implication alone does not fit the form described.

Option C:
Option C correctly names biconditional as the connective corresponding to “if and only if”. It combines two conditionals into a single equivalence statement. Therefore biconditional is the best choice here.

Option D:
Option D, negation, simply reverses the truth value of a single statement. It cannot express a mutual dependence between two propositions. Consequently negation is not suitable.