2. What is Inductive Reasoning?
• Inductive Reasoning is arriving at a
conclusion on the basis of principle facts
that can guide you to the conclusion.
• It also can be called an educated guess.
• Inductive reasoning suggests the truth
about a statement but does not directly
prove the statement.
• This type of reasoning is mainly based
on observations.
3. Strong Induction
• Strong Induction is when you decide to
believe the conclusion is true based on
the evidence.
• The conclusion of strong inductions is
usually likely to be true.
• For a statement to be a strong induction,
it has to be logical, and have some sort
of evidence.
4. Examples of Strong Induction
• All the tigers observed in a particular
region have black stripes, therefore all
the tigers native to this region have
black stripes.
• This is a strong induction because it has
not been proven false yet, based on
observations taken.
5. Weak Induction
• A weak induction is when your particular
view on something does not allow you
to see that the conclusion is likely given
the evidence.
• Weak inductions tend to be false, or
based on very limited examples or facts.
• Weak inductions are usually based on a
person’s experiences or observations,
and is likely able to be proven false.
6. Examples of Weak Induction
• I always hang pictures on nails,
therefore all pictures hang from nails.
• This is a weak induction because not
every picture is hung from a nail, and
not everybody hangs pictures from nails,
so it can be proven false.
7. Real World Connections
• Inductive reasoning can be used during everyday
conversations. Examples:
• Every cat I have seen has a tail, so all cats have
tails.
• This is a strong induction because it has not yet
been proven false. Another example:
• Everybody I know has been to McDonald’s, so
everyone has been to McDonald’s.
• This is a weak induction, because there are some
people who have never been to McDonald’s.
8. Real World Connections
• Inductive reasoning is mainly used when proving
theories or statements.
• All swans are white based on all available
observations of swans.
• This specific conclusion was overturned when black
swans were discovered, so this theory was eventually
proved false, even though at one point it was true.
• Newton’s laws of motion are examples of this type of
reasoning.
• An object in motion continues with the same speed and
direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
9. Real World Connections
• Inductive reasoning is also used during
math.
• The spinner has landed on the color blue
the past three times, so blue is the color
spun the most.
• Inductive reasoning is based on
observations in math.
