Inference
- Inference:
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"the act of passing from one proposition, statement or judgment considered as true to another whose truth is believed to follow from that of the former" (Webster)
Do premises \( A, B, \ldots \to \) hypothesis, \( H \)?
- Deductive inference:
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Premises allow definite determination of truth/falsity of H (syllogisms, symbolic logic, Boolean algebra)
\( B(H|A,B,...) = 0 \) or \( 1 \)
- Inductive inference:
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Premises bear on truth/falsity of H, but don’t allow its definite determination (weak syllogisms, analogies)
\( A, B, C, D \) share properties \( x, y, z \); \( E \) has properties \( x, y \)
\( \to \) $E$ probably has property \( z \).