A student in class says, "In ancient India, townships seems to have developed around major temples, just like Madurai and Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu." Which of the following type of reasoning is the student using while making this statement?

Option 1 : Inductive reasoning

Reasoning can be regarded as an instrument that enables mankind to grasp the ‘unknown’ with the help of the ‘known’. ’ The reasoning is the process of using existing knowledge to draw conclusions, make predictions, or construct explanations.

 Here, a student says, "In ancient India, townships seem to have developed around major temples, just like Madurai and Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu." This statement begins with observations from specific to general and proceeds to a conclusion. So, this is inductive reasoning.

Inductive reasoning:- It proceeds from the particular to general from the concrete to the abstract. 

• Inductive reasoning begins with observations that are specific and limited in scope and proceeds to a generalized conclusion that is likely, but not certain, in light of accumulated evidence.
• Inductive reasoning moves from the specific to the general.
• Much scientific research is carried out by the inductive method: gathering evidence, seeking patterns, and forming a hypothesis or theory to explain what is seen.
• Conclusions reached by the inductive method are not logical necessities; no amount of inductive evidence guarantees the conclusion. This is because there is no way to know that all the possible evidence has been gathered and that there exists no further bit of unobserved evidence that might invalidate my hypothesis.

Thus, from the above-mentioned points, it is clear that the inductive type of reasoning is the student uses while making this statement.

•  Deductive reasoning starts with the assertion of a general rule and proceeds from there to a guaranteed specific conclusion. Deductive reasoning moves from the general rule to the specific application.
• Cause-effect reasoning is an important part of verbal reasoning, which asserts or denies that one thing causes another, or that one thing is caused by another.

• Reductive reasoning:- It is a subset of argumentative reasoning which seeks to demonstrate that a statement is true by showing that a false or absurd result follows from its denial. It is considered as a mixture of deductive and inductive reasoning.