INDUCTIVE REASONING and DEDUCTIVE REASONING
Inductive reasoning is the process of arriving at a general conclusion based on observations of specific
examples.
This conclusion is called as conjecture, hypothesis or educated guess.
A conclusion is either “strong or weak”, not “right or wrong”.
A strong inductive argument does not guarantee the truth of the conclusion, but rather provides a
strong support for the conclusion.
Discovery in Math often begins with an examination of individual cases to reveal patterns about
numbers.
In a series of numbers, we try to identify a pattern and therefore find the next number. This is done by
using inductive reasoning.
Neither my dad nor my boyfriend has ever cried in front of me. Therefore, men have difficulty in
expressing their feelings.
a. Is this an inductive or deductive argument?
b. Is this a strong or weak argument?
What if we are given 1, 2, 4, ? How many patterns can be identified?
Every time you eat peanuts, you start to cough. You are allergic to peanuts.
Michael just moved here from Chicago. Michael has red hair. Therefore, all people from Chicago
have red hair.
Deductive reasoning is the process of proving a specific conclusion from one or more general
statements. A conclusion that is proved to be true by deductive reasoning is called a theorem. (Not a
fact, because a fact is an observable truth, whereas a theorem is a more complicated mathematical
concept that can be proven using several axioms (rules like “there are 180 degrees in a straight angle”)
and logic. "
All dolphins are mammals, all mammals have kidneys; therefore all dolphins have kidneys.
All numbers ending in 0 or 5 are divisible by 5. The number 35 ends with a 5, so it must be
divisible by 5.
