Chapter 6, Problem 1E

Explanation of Solution

Justification:

“No”, the given statements are not contradictory.

• If an expression has a consecutive identical operators, then the associativity determines which subexpressions are arguments of which operators.
• It doesn’t follow any specified order to evaluate the subexpressions.
• For example consider the following expression which uses left associativity determines that $\text{f(a)-f(b)-f(c)}$ groups as $\text{(f(a)-f(b))-h(c)}$ rather than using $\text{f(a)-(f(b)-f(c))}$.
• But it does not determine whether $\text{f(a)}$ or $\text{f(b)}$ is called first.