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Is there an adjective that describes the "either ... or ..." relationship between two concepts?

Here by "either ... or ...", I mean mutual exclusiveness and exhaustiveness. Or logically speaking, the "either ... or ..." relationship can be thought of as the relationship between a proposition and its negation.

Let me use two examples to clarify what I need.

  1. Suppose I'm an elementary school student and I just learned about odd and even numbers. I'm don't know if a integer can be both odd and even (multual exclusive), and I don't know if every integer must be odd or even (exhaustiveness). So I go to my teacher and ask "is a integer either odd or even?". Can I rephrase my question like "are odd and even numbers ____?"?
  2. Suppose instead I'm a college student now and I just learned about open and closed sets. Misled by the their names, I thought that a set must be open if it's not closed and vice versa, until my professor told me that "open sets and closed sets are not ____".

I want an adjective that fits into those blanks above.


After reading all the answers and comments, as well as related questions, I think the "either ... or ..." phrase might be the simplest and most suitable way, as least for everyday usage. Just say "an X is either A or B" instead of "A and B are ____"

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2 Answers 2

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In mathematical literature, "complete" is the usual term, e.g.

...completeness implies that there are not any “gaps” (in Dedekind's terminology) or “missing points” in the real number line... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Completeness_of_the_real_numbers

The Completeness of the Integers, John McCuan, February 25, 2020 https://people.math.gatech.edu/~mccuan/courses/4317/integers2.pdf

Picking up on the comment by @271828, I would say that "exhaustive" is equally correct in general speech. It doesn't even depend on there being merely two alternatives.

E.g. The digits 0-9 are exhaustive when it comes to expressing the numbers from zero to one hundred.

In other words they exhaust the possibilities. In less formal terms, you could say "all encompassing", however your example is mathematical and so formal by definition.

EDIT

Incidentally, the terms necessary and sufficient are relevant here. For example Even and Odd numbers are sufficient to encompass the integers but they aren't necessary, i.e. you can describe integers in a different way.

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  • I used a mathematical example, but I don't want the mathematical terminology for specific. (I added another mathematical example to the question to futuer clarify, I don't know why all I came up with were math terms [face with tears of joy]).After viewing all the answers and comments, I think maybe the "either ... or ..." phrase is the simplest way for everyday usage. Thanks a lot anyway.
    – 271828
    Commented Jun 19, 2020 at 20:40
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Are you looking for the word dichotomous?

Lexico defines dichotomous as

Exhibiting or characterized by dichotomy,

and dichotomy as

A division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.

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  • That sounds a bit intimidating in everyday use. What I need is a adj that describes both mutual exclusiveness and exhaustiveness. Suppose I'm a elementary school student and I just learned about odd and even numbers but I'm not sure if they form all the integers, so I ask my teacher "is a integer either even or odd?". Can I rephrase my question as "are even and odd numbers ____?"
    – 271828
    Commented Jun 19, 2020 at 19:37

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