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Sorry if the terms are not right. Is it correct to say

"Since burgers are edible, then burgers can be eaten." ?

Should it not instead be "If burgers are edible, then burgers can be eaten." or "Since burgers are edible, burgers can be eaten." ?

BCLC
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Sure it's correct. Since/Then is functionally equivalent to If/Then.

An accepted meaning of "since" is "because" or "inasmuch as". If I can say "because burgers are edible, then burgers can be eaten," then I can say "since burgers are edible..."

"Since burgers are edible, burgers can be eaten." is simply a case of omitting "then", much like a contraction omits one or more letters in a word.

ETA:

Quite apart from correctness is the meaning. "Because/Since" and "If" are not the same. "Since burgers are edible..." makes the assumption or states the fact of edibility. So does "Because burgers are edible..." On the other hand, "If burgers are edible..." presents edibility as a mere possibility.

Cyberherbalist
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    I wouldn’t go so far as to call since A, then B ungrammatical, but it is certainly much less usual than the form without then. And for because, I would almost go so far as to call the construction ungrammatical with then. Very, very clunky and unnatural, at least. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Sep 17 '14 at 16:53
  • @JanusBahsJacquet, I am sometimes struck by the diversity of what sounds natural/unnatural to different people. For example, I've observed that you and I seem to be polar opposites on this score. Case in point: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/195724/when-do-you-leave-out-the-preposition-in-a-relative-clause You feel that the terminal "with" sounds natural, but to me it sounds unnatural and clunky. This is just an observation, mind you, I won't claim that you're wrong. – Cyberherbalist Sep 17 '14 at 17:00
  • @Cyberherbalist "because burgers are edible, then burgers can be eaten," --> Are you sure that this is correct? "then" seems to go with "if" rather than "since" or "because"... – BCLC Sep 17 '14 at 17:08
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    @BCLC see my edited answer. I could say "Because burgers are edible, they can be eaten", omitting the "then", and it would be assumed. It's correct, and probably more prevalent than "since" in this context. I can even omit the "then" in the "if" statement: "If burgers are edible, they can be eaten." – Cyberherbalist Sep 17 '14 at 17:39
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    @Cyberherbalist Good distinction. I've always felt that omitting a "then" in a possibility statement is wrong (probably due to highschool programming classing). So it's actually okay? I've always thought that it goes like: "If x is less than 0, then x is less than 1. Since x is less than 0, x is less than 1." – BCLC Sep 17 '14 at 17:58
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    +1 for @JanusBahsJacquet's comment. Apparently it is "correct" to use then in such contexts, but it sounds wrong to my ear. I feel the same about When A then B (but I try to stifle my discomfort with that when it comes to SQL). – Drew Sep 17 '14 at 18:07
  • @Drew IKR. It's only "if" that sounds okay to go with "then". For me an "if" w/o a "then" sounds weird...So it's just a matter of tradition or culture or something when really w/ or w/o "then" is correct? – BCLC Sep 17 '14 at 18:41
  • @JanusBahsJacquet Drew, I agree with your assessment there. For various reasons relating to my current work, I'm interested to know your grammaticality judgement when the then is placed in so called mid-position in the superordinate clause: Since burgers are edible, burgers can then be eaten, or Because you're not going to support me, I'm not then going to support you either! can't summon any decent examples right now, but you get the drift ... :) – Araucaria - Him Sep 18 '14 at 00:06
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    @BCLC Then this comment will sound weird to you? :) – Araucaria - Him Sep 18 '14 at 00:11
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    @BCLC I have the same problem as you in programming. I am a programmer after all, and my favorite language, C#, eschews "then". I started out in COBOL and transitioned over to Basic; both of these use "if/then", optionally in the case of COBOL. On very rare occasions I find myself trying to write "if (catIsOutOfBag) then"! – Cyberherbalist Sep 18 '14 at 00:31
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    @Araucaria Then without if is okay I guess. If without then is weird :P

    Hope I didn't contradict myself somewhere there...

     – BCLC Apr 22 '15 at 11:31