Time Point for Temporal Reasoning This temporal reasoning step represents a combination of one or more of the following facts about time points. We use the a shorthand notation where < means "before", <= means "before-or-equal-point", and = means "equal-point": If a < b, and b < c, then a < c. [Transitivity of "before"] If a <= b, and b <= c, then a <= c. [Transitivity of "before-or-equal-point"] If a < b, and b <= c, then a < c. [Composition of "before" and "before-or-equal-point"] If a < b, and b = c, then a < c. [Composition of "before" and "equal-point"] If a = b, and b <= c, then a <= c. [Composition of "equal-point" and "before-or-equal-point".]