Inductive, Deductive and Abductive Reasoning: Difference between revisions

For example, if a car's trunk is large and a bike does not fit into it, you may assume the bike must also be large.

'''Abductive reasoning''' is to abduce (or take away) a logical assumption, explanation, inference, conclusion, hypothesis, or best guess from an observation or set of observations. Because the conclusion is merely a best guess, the conclusion that is drawn may or may not be true.

The main difference between inductive and deductive reasoning is that inductive reasoning aims at developing a theory while deductive reasoning aims at testing an existing theory.