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inference

Inferences are steps in logical reasoning, moving from premises to logical consequences; etymologically, the word infer means to "carry forward". Inference is theoretically traditionally divided into deduction and induction, a distinction that dates at least to Aristotle (300s BC). Deduction is inference deriving logical conclusions from premises known or assumed to be true, with the laws of valid inference being studied in logic. Induction is inference from particular evidence to a universal conclusion. A third type of inference is sometimes distinguished, notably by Charles Sanders Peirce, c

AI overview

Inference is the process of drawing conclusions by reasoning logically from information you already know or assume to be true. It matters because it's a fundamental way humans make sense of the world—whether through deduction (reaching specific conclusions from general rules), induction (finding general patterns from specific examples), or other forms of logical reasoning.

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Article

16 sections

Contents

Definition
Examples
Example for definition #1
Example for definition #2
Incorrect inference
Applications
Inference engines
Prolog engine
Semantic web
Bayesian statistics and probability logic
Fuzzy logic
Non-monotonic logic
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Various fields study how inference is done in practice. Human inference (i.e. how humans draw conclusions) is traditionally studied within the fields of logic, argumentation studies, and cognitive psychology; artificial intelligence researchers develop automated inference systems to emulate human inference. Statistical inference uses mathematics to draw conclusions in the presence of uncertainty. This generalizes deterministic reasoning, with the absence of uncertainty as a special case. Statistical inference uses quantitative or qualitative (categorical) data which may be subject to random variations.