• Home
  • What Does Inductive Mean Mean?
Technology

What Does Inductive Mean Mean?

Definition of inductive 1 : of, relating to, or employing mathematical or logical induction inductive reasoning. 2 : of or relating to inductance or electrical induction. 3 : introductory. 4 : involving the action of an embryological organizer : tending to produce induction. 5 : leading on : inducing.13 Feb 2022
Click to see the full answer

Deductive reasoning, or deduction, is making an inference based on widely accepted facts or premises. If a beverage is defined as "drinkable through a straw," one could use deduction to determine soup to be a beverage. Inductive reasoning, or induction, is making an inference based on an observation, often of a sample. You can induce that the soup is tasty if you observe all of your friends consuming it. Abductive reasoning, or abduction, is making a probable conclusion from what you know. If you see an abandoned bowl of hot soup on the table, you can use abduction to conclude the owner of the soup is likely returning soon.

Do you have to figure out what time you need to leave your house for an appointment? Or are you trying to decide the best choice for lunch? Or are you baffled about why a half-eaten sandwich is on the counter? These situations call for some method of reasoning, and there are three that we use daily: deduction, induction, and abduction.

In abductive reasoning, the major premise is evident, but the minor premise and therefore the conclusion are only probable. For example, if you find a half-eaten sandwich in your home, you might use probability to reason that your teenage son made the sandwich, realized he was late for work, and abandoned it before he could finish it.

Deductive Reasoning

Deduction is generally defined as "the deriving of a conclusion by reasoning." Its specific meaning in logic is "inference in which the conclusion about particulars follows necessarily from general or universal premises." Simply put, deduction—or the process of deducing—is the formation of a conclusion based on generally accepted statements or facts. It occurs when you are planning out trips, for instance. Say you have a 10 o'clock appointment with the dentist and you know that it takes 30 minutes to drive from your house to the dentist's. From those two facts, you deduce that you will have to leave your house at 9:30, at the latest, to be at the dentist's on time.

Deductive reasoning always follows necessarily from general or universal premises. If a sandwich is defined as "two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between," and a hot dog is defined as "a frankfurter; especially : a frankfurter heated and served in a long split roll" then one must deduce that any hot dog served in a split roll is a sandwich.

Inductive Reasoning

Whereas in deduction the truth of the conclusion is guaranteed by the truth of the statements or facts considered (the hot dog is served in a split roll and a split roll with a filling in the middle is a sandwich), induction is a method of reasoning involving an element of probability. In logic, induction refers specifically to "inference of a generalized conclusion from particular instances." In other words, it means forming a generalization based on what is known or observed. For example, at lunch you observe 4 of your 6 coworkers ordering the same sandwich. From your observation, you then induce that the sandwich is probably good—and you decide to try it yourself. Induction is at play here since your reasoning is based on an observation of a small group, as opposed to universal premises.

Abductive Reasoning

The third method of reasoning, abduction, is defined as "a syllogism in which the major premise is evident but the minor premise and therefore the conclusion only probable." Basically, it involves forming a conclusion from the information that is known. A familiar example of abduction is a detective's identification of a criminal by piecing together evidence at a crime scene. In an everyday scenario, you may be puzzled by a half-eaten sandwich on the kitchen counter. Abduction will lead you to the best explanation. Your reasoning might be that your teenage son made the sandwich and then saw that he was late for work. In a rush, he put the sandwich on the counter and left.

If you have trouble differentiating deduction, induction, and abduction, thinking about their roots might help. All three words are based on Latin ducere, meaning "to lead." The prefix de- means "from," and deduction derives from generally accepted statements or facts. The prefix in- means "to" or "toward," and induction leads you to a generalization. The prefix ab- means "away," and you take away the best explanation in abduction.

9 Related questions Answers found

What does inductive mean simple terms?

Inductive is a way to describe something that leads to something else, so when applied to reasoning it just means you collect information and draw conclusions from what you observe. Logical types may already be familiar with the word inductive as it relates to reasoning.

What does inductive and deductive mean?

Deductive reasoning, or deduction, is making an inference based on widely accepted facts or premises. If a beverage is defined as "drinkable through a straw," one could use deduction to determine soup to be a beverage. Inductive reasoning, or induction, is making an inference based on an observation, often of a sample.

What does inductive method mean?

What does inductive mean? Inductive is used to describe reasoning that involves using specific observations, such as observed patterns, to make a general conclusion. This method is sometimes called induction. Induction starts with a set of premises, based mainly on experience or experimental evidence.

What is another word for inductive?

In this page you can discover 23 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for inductive, like: inductive, empiricism, analytic, introductory, preparatory, prolegomenous, start, inducive, deductive, preparative and baconian.

What is inductive example?

In causal inference inductive reasoning, you use inductive logic to draw a causal link between a premise and hypothesis. As an example: In the summer, there are ducks on our pond. Therefore, summer will bring ducks to our pond.

What is inductive leap?

inductive leap” means to conclude that all polar bears are white. ahlukileoi and 1 more users found this answer helpful. Thanks 1.

Did Sherlock Holmes use inductive or deductive reasoning?

Sherlock Holmes never uses deductive reasoning to assist him in solving a crime. Instead, he uses inductive reasoning.

What deductive means?

Definition of deductive 1 : of, relating to, or provable by deriving conclusions by reasoning : of, relating to, or provable by deduction (see deduction sense 2a) deductive principles.

How do you use inductive reasoning?

When you can look at a specific set of data and form general conclusions based on existing knowledge from past experiences, you are using inductive reasoning. For example, if you review the population information of a city for the past 15 years, you may observe that the population has increased at a consistent rate.