Question

The process of thinking that involves considering an overall general idea or theory and drawing specific conclusions or making specific predictions is called __________.

Answer 1

Deductive reasoning

Step-by-step explanation:

The process of using pre-existing knowledge to make logical conclusions, make predictions and draw out explanations is called reasoning. Reasoning are basically of two types:

i. Deductive reasoning: This takes a general rule, idea, or theory as foundation and then proceeds from there to draw meaningful conclusions or predictions. For example;

If a = 3 ----------------(i)

And b = 5 ----------------(ii)

Then 2a + 4b = 26 -------------(iii)

From above, following from equations (i) and (ii), it can be concluded that (iii) should be true.

ii. Inductive reasoning: While deductive reasoning moves from a general rule to specific rule, inductive reasoning does the opposite - moves from specific to a general rule.