Cops and Dogs

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A couple simple explanations I use:

-You are passing the main intersection at school on a Monday and notice a cop parked at the corner. On Tuesday and Wednesday the cop is in the exact same spot. So on Thursday, by using inductive reasoning, you will probably be very careful driving near that intersection.

-Why cats are smarter than dogs: My old roommate’s girlfriend’s dog was this super energetic shitzu who would jump on you and always wanted attention. After a while it got annoying so we’d just lead it upstairs and lock it in a room. Yet even after the fourth consecutive day of taking it upstairs, it would jump on us the entire time, thinking we were going to play with it, not realizing the pattern that upstairs meant “being locked up.” The dog had poor inductive reasoning skills. If you tried this with a cat, it might do it the first couple times, but eventually it would recognize the pattern and just hide–because cats have better inductive reasoning skills.

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Powerpoint for lesson on inductive reasoning. In slide 5 I explain the cop example. In slide 6 I explain that if the cafeteria served Macaroni and Cheese every Friday for the past month, you could inductively reason that they’ll serve it the following Friday

Attachments:

1. 2.1-inductive.ppt

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