Analyzing a Comic Strip for Types of Reasoning

As you may have noticed in the examples in the previous section, the conclusions we draw are not always valid—this is the topic of another lesson entitled “Evaluate the Effectiveness of Arguments.” But even silly or invalid arguments can teach us about inductive and deductive reasoning.

In this “Prime Baby” comic strip, big brother Thaddeus collects data—the number of times his baby sister Maddie says “ga” and jots his findings in a notebook. Think about which form of reasoning he follows even though it leads to an illogical conclusion. Once you have an answer, check your understanding for a sample response.

Check Your Understanding

Sample Response:

It’s inductive because he begins by recording detailed observations that lead him to a concrete conclusion.

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This comic strip shows a brother who follows his baby sister with a tablet and records each “ga” she says. Each number of ga’s turns out to be a prime number. Her brother concludes that she is an alien using flawed inductive reasoning.

Source: “Prime Baby,” Gene Luen Yang, New York Times