eCenter: Patterns and Inductive Reasoning

Vocabulary

Inductive reasoning - reasoning that is based on patterns you observe. If you observe a pattern in a sequence, you can use inductive reasoning to tell what the next terms in the sequence will be. Conjecture - a conclusion you reach using inductive reasoning. Counterexample - not all conjectures turn out to be true. You can prove that a conjecture is false by finding one counterexample (example for which the conjecture is incorrect).