if a gate does not have an input command connected to it-the state of that input would be ?

Answer 1

undefined. it could be considered high or low by the gate.

Answer 2

In most TTL and CMOS devices it is a logic high, but you're not guaranteed that. In other words, 95 times out of a 100 it would behave as though it were connected to a logic high, but those 5 times out of a 100 will bite you on the @ss. Always tie unused inputs to ground or high if you don't want weird, often irreproducible errors.