Thinking Mathematically

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Thinking Mathematically

• Problem Solving and Critical Thinking

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Inductive Reasoning
Inductive reasoning is the process of arriving
at a general conclusion based on observations of
specific examples.
Conclusion College textbooks cost more than
50.00.
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Inductive Reasoning
There is no guarantee that the conclusions
reached by inductive reasoning are correct with
no exceptions.
Even though all your textbooks this term cost
more than 50.00 it is still possible (and even
probable) that a textbook for some course will
cost less than 50.00.
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Inductive Reasoning
In mathematics inductive reasoning is often
used to find patterns.
Find the pattern in the following sequence of 6
numbers and use that pattern to decide what the
next number should be.
1,4,16,64,256,1024,?
Each number is obtained from the previous one by
multiplying by 4. The next number is
4106
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Deductive Reasoning
Deductive reasoning is the process of proving a
specific conclusion from one or more general
statements. A conclusion that is proved true by
deductive reasoning is called a theorem. For
example
You are an entering freshman.
Conclusion You will have to take a mathematics
placement test.
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Thinking Mathematically

• Problem Solving and Critical Thinking