Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Induction.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun See
induction .
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ruzuzu commented on the word mathematical induction
When I talk with folks who've studied mathematics, they like to tell me how helpful induction is--but I've been confused, because it sounds much more like they're using deduction. Instead I've learned that they're actually talking about mathematical induction.
I'll just leave this here for the next time I need to remember which is which:
"For the history of the name "mathematical induction", see
•Florian Cajori, Origin of the Name "Mathematical Induction" (1918):
The process of reasoning called "mathematical induction" has had several independent origins. It has been traced back to the Swiss Jakob (James) Bernoulli |Opera, Tomus I, Genevae, MDCCXLIV, p. 282, reprinted from Acta eruditorum, Lips., 1686, p. 360. See also Jakob Bernoulli's Ars conjectandi, 1713, p. 95|, the Frenchmen B.Pascal |OEuvres completes de Blaise Pascal, Vol. 3, Paris, 1866, p. 248| and P.Fermat |Charles S Peirce in the Century Dictionary, Art."Induction," and in the Monist, Vol. 2, 1892, pp. 539, 545; Peirce called mathematical induction the "Fermatian inference"|, and the Italian F.Maurolycus |G.Vacca, Bulletin Am. Math. Soc., Vol. 16, 1909, pp. 70-73|."
-- https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1080417/why-is-mathematical-induction-called-mathematical
July 16, 2018
ruzuzu commented on the word mathematical induction
Oh, hey, ruzuzu from 2018--thank you. I was stuck on this again.
This time I'll add that C.S. Peirce also wrote about abduction, but it's the kind of rabbit hole that leads one to muttering about confectio Damocritis.
October 19, 2021