[Haskell-cafe] Re: Induction (help!)

PR Stanley prstanley at ntlworld.com
Tue May 6 08:37:03 EDT 2008


> > Hi
> > I don't know what it is that I'm not getting where mathematical
> > induction is concerned. This is relevant to Haskell so I wonder if
> > any of you gents could explain in unambiguous terms the concept
> > please. The wikipedia article offers perhaps the least obfuscated
> > definition I've found so far but I would still like more clarity.
> > The idea is to move onto inductive proof in Haskell. First, however,
> > I need to understand the general mathematical concept.
> >
> > Top marks for clarity and explanation of technical terms.
> >       Thanks
> > Paul
> >
>Induction -> from the small picture, extrapolate the big
>Deduction -> from the big picture, extrapolate the small
>
>Thus, in traditional logic, if you induce "all apples are red", simple
>observation of a single non-red apple quickly reduces your result to
>"at least one apple is not red on one side, all others may be red",
>i.e, you can't deduce "all apples are red" with your samples anymore.

         Paul: surely, you wouldn't come up with an incorrect premise 
like "all apples are red" in the first place.
Sorry, still none the wiser
Cheers,
Paul



More information about the Haskell-Cafe mailing list