INDUCTIVE REASONING

Mathematics involves the study of patterns. In everyday life, we

frequently rely on patterns and routines to draw conclusions. Here is an
example:

The last six times I went to the beach, the traffic was light
on Wednesdays and heavy on Sundays. My conclusion is
that weekdays have lighter traffic than weekends.

This type of reasoning process is referred to as inductive reasoning, or

induction.
 INDUCTIVE REASONING
Definition (Inductive Reasoning)
Inductive reasoning is the process of arriving at a general conclusion
based on observations of specific examples.

Although inductive reasoning is a powerful method of drawing

conclusions, we can never be absolutely certain that these
conclusions are true. For this reason, the conclusions are
called conjectures, hypotheses, or educated guesses.
  When you examine a list of numbers and predict the next
number in the list according to some pattern you have
observed, you are using inductive reasoning.

INDUCTIVE Use inductive reasoning to predict the next number in

each of the following lists:
REASONING:
EXAMPLE 1 a. 3, 6, 9, 12, 15,___
Solution:
Each successive number is 3 larger than the preceding
number. Thus we predict that the next number in the
list is 3 larger than 15, which is 18.
  When you examine a list of numbers and predict the next
number in the list according to some pattern you have
observed, you are using inductive reasoning.

Use inductive reasoning to predict the next number in

INDUCTIVE each of the following lists:
REASONING: b. 1, 3, 6, 10, 15,___
EXAMPLE 1 Solution:
Continuation...
The first two numbers differ by 2. The second and the
third numbers differ by 3. It appears that the
difference between any two numbers is always 1
more than the preceding difference. Since 10 and 15
differ by 5, we predict that the next number in the list
will be 6 larger than 15, which is 21.
  Inductive reasoning is not used just to predict the next number
in a list. In Example 2 we use inductive reasoning to make a
conjecture about an arithmetic procedure.

INDUCTIVE Consider the following procedure:

REASONING: Pick a number. Multiply the number by 8, add 6 to the
EXAMPLE 2 product, divide the sum by 2, and subtract 3.

Complete the above procedure for several different

numbers. Use inductive reasoning to make a conjecture
about the relationship between the size of the resulting
number and the size of the original number.
 Solution: (Example 2)
Suppose we pick 5 as our original number. Then the procedure would produce the
following results:
Original number: 5
Multiply by 8: 8 x 5 = 40
Add 6: 40 + 6 = 46
Divide by 2: 46 ÷ 2 = 23
Subtract 3: 23 – 3 = 20
We started with 5 and followed the procedure to produce 20.
Starting with 6 as our original number produces a final result of 24. Starting with 10
produces a final result of 40. In each of these cases the resulting number is four times
the original number. We conjecture that following the given procedure produces a
number that is four times the original number.
 Using inductive reasoning to Make a Conjecture

Practice Exercise 1:
Consider the following procedure:
Pick a number. Multiply the number by 9, add 15 to the product, divide
the sum by 3, and subtract 5.
Complete the above procedure for several different numbers. Use
inductive reasoning to make a conjecture about the relationship between
the size of the resulting number and the size of the original number.
 Solution: (Practice Exercise 1)
Suppose we pick 3 as our original number. Then the procedure would produce the
following results:
Original number: 3
Multiply by 9: 9 x 3 = 27
Add 15: 27 + 15 = 42
Divide by 3: 42 ÷ 3 = 14
Subtract 5: 14 – 5 = 9
We started with 3 and followed the procedure to produce 9.
Starting with 5 as our original number produces a final result of 15. Starting with 7
produces a final result of 21. In each of these cases the resulting number is three times
the original number. We conjecture that following the given procedure produces a
number that is three times the original number.
 Scientists often use inductive reasoning. For instance, Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642)
used inductive reasoning to discover that the time required for a pendulum to
complete one swing, called the period of the pendulum, depends on the length.
Galileo did not have a clock, so he measured the periods of pendulums in
“heartbeats.” The following table shows some results obtained for pendulums of
various lengths. For the sake of convenience, a length of 10 inches has been
designated as 1 unit.
Length of pendulum, in units Period of pendulum, in heartbeats
1 1
4 2
9 3
16 4
25 5
36 6
 Use Inductive Reasoning to Solve an
Application

Use the data in the previous table and inductive reasoning

to answer each of the following questions.
INDUCTIVE
a. If a pendulum has a length of 49 units, what is its period?
REASONING:
Solution:
EXAMPLE 3
In the table, each pendulum has a period that is the square
root of its length. Thus we conjecture that a pendulum with
a length of 49 units will have a period of 7 heartbeats.
 Use Inductive Reasoning to Solve an
Application
Use the data in the previous table and inductive reasoning
to answer each of the following questions.
INDUCTIVE b. If the length of a pendulum is quadrupled, what happens
REASONING: to its period?
EXAMPLE 3 Solution:
Continuation... In the table, a pendulum with a length of 4 units has a
period that is twice that of a pendulum with a length of 1
unit. A pendulum with a length of 16 units has a period that
is twice that of a pendulum with a length of 4 units. It
appears that quadrupling the length of a pendulum doubles
its period.
 Counterexamples
Conclusions based on inductive reasoning may be incorrect.
A statement is a true statement provided that it is true in all cases. If you
can find one case for which a statement is not true, called a
counterexample, then the statement is a false statement.

Example 4:
Verify that each of the following statements is a false statement by finding
a counterexample.
For all numbers x:
a. x  0 b. x 2  x c. x 2  x
 Solution: (Example 4)
A statement may have many counterexamples, but we need only find one
counterexample to verify that the statement is false.
a. Let x  0. Then 0  0. Because 0 is not greater than 0, we have found
a counterexample. Thus, “for all numbers x, x  0 “ is a false
statement.
b. For x  1 we have 12  1 . Since 1 is not greater than 1, we have found a
counterexample. Thus, “for all numbers x, x 2  x “ is a false statement.
c. Consider x  3 . Then  32  9  3 . Since 3 is not equal to – 3, we
have found a counterexample. Thus, “for all numbers x, x  x “ is a
2

false statement.
 DEDUCTIVE REASONING
We use inductive reasoning in everyday life. Many of the conjectures
that come from this kind of thinking seem highly likely, although we can
never be absolutely certain that they are true. Another method of
reasoning, called deductive reasoning, or deduction, can be used to
prove that some conjectures are true.

Definition (Deductive Reasoning)

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.
Our next example illustrates the difference between inductive and
deductive reasoning. The first part of the example involves reasoning that
moves from specific examples to a general statement, illustrating inductive
reasoning. The second part of the example begins with the general case
rather than specific examples and illustrates deductive reasoning. To begin
the general case, we use a letter to represent any one of various numbers.
A letter used to represent any number in a collection of numbers is called
a variable.
 Example 5:
Consider the following procedure:
Select a number. Multiply the number by 6. Add 8 to
USING the product. Divide this sum by 2. Subtract 4 from the
quotient.
INDUCTIVE
AND
a. Repeat this procedure for at least four different
DEDUCTIVE numbers. Write a conjecture that relates the result
REASONING of this process to the original number selected.
b. Use the variable n to represent the original
number and use deductive reasoning to prove the
conjecture in part (a).
 Solution: (Example 5a)

First, let us pick our starting numbers. We will use 4, 7, 11, and 100, but we could pick
any four numbers. Next we will apply the procedure given in this example to 4, 7, 11,
and 100, four individual cases, in Table 1.1.
 Solution: (Example 5a)
Continuation…

Because we are asked to write a conjecture that relates the result of this process to the
original number selected, let us focus on the result of case.

Do you see a pattern? Our conjecture is that the result of the process is three times
the original number selected. We have used inductive reasoning.
 Solution: (Example 5b)
Now we begin with the general case rather than specific examples. We use the variable
n to represent any number.

Using the variable n to represent any number, the result is 3n, or three times the number n.
This proves that the result of the procedure is three times the original number selected for
any number. We have used deductive reasoning.
 Example 6:
Use deductive reasoning to make a conjecture, that the
DEDUCTIVE following procedure produces a number that is four
times the original number.
REASONING
Procedure:
Pick a number. Multiply the number by 8, add 6 to the
product, divide the sum by 2, then subtract by 3.
 Solution: (Example 6)

Let n represent the original number

• Original number: n
• Multiply by 8: 8n
• Add 6 to the product: 8n + 6
• Divide the sum by 2: (8n + 6) / 2 = 4n + 3
• Subtract by 3: 4n + 3 – 3 = 4n

We started with n and ended with 4n. The procedure given in this example
produces a number that is four times the original number.
 Inductive Reasoning vs. Deductive Reasoning
In Example 7 we analyze arguments to determine whether they use inductive or
deductive reasoning.

Example 7:
Determine whether each of the following arguments is an example of
inductive reasoning or deductive reasoning.
a. During the past 10 years, a tree has produced plums every other year.
Last year the tree did not produce plums, so this year the tree will
produce plums.
b. All home improvements cost more than the estimate. The contractor
estimated that my home improvement will cost P35,000. Thus, my
home improvement will cost more than P35,000.
 Solution: (Example 7)

a. This argument reaches to a conclusion based on specific examples, so it

is an example of inductive reasoning.

b. Because the conclusion is a specific case of a general assumption, this

argument is an example of deductive reasoning.