2) More On Inductive Reasoning

Of all of the types of reasoning, I thought it was hardest to understand inductive reasoning. The reason is because the descriptions I have seen in books did not really explain it clearly. I could relate to their examples, but it was hard to understand how the reasoning was actually inductive. However, I did some research and found this site.

http://www.experiment-resources.com/inductive-reasoning.html

If you skip it to the inductive reasoning section, they mention about scientists saying that they rely on patterns. When I saw the word "patterns," I got a clearer idea on what inductive reasoning is. Basically, inductive reasoning is like basing your conclusions on observations of patterns. In contrast, deductive would be basing conclusions on things that solidly exist (not observations).

If it's still not clear, think of the weather right now. If you did not have access to the weather forecast, can you predict the weather tomorrow? Although your answer may not be correct, your answer may be based on inductive reasoning. Recently, the weather has been cold and a bit rainy sometimes. From your observations on what the weather has been like recently, you can probably reach a conclusion that tomorrow may also be cold and possibly rainy based on the weather patterns.

- Pink Bean