Tuesday, November 05, 2013

Reasoning by Transitivity

The basic definition of reasoning by transitivity is easy to neglect. It is remarkable how regularly we use this concept of logic in our everyday life. The classic example a=b, b=c, therefore a=c is quick to say and easy to understand. But as I thought about the subject I realized that this concept is far more prevalent. I thought of various ways that we measure things in our daily lives and it became obvious. Looking at the ruler on my desk I realized that I do not have a tangible idea for what an inch is. But someone else, some trusted authority, does and has marked my ruler accordingly. So as I measure a line on a page all I know for sure is that the line I drew is equal to the distance between 0 and 1 on my ruler. An additional premise is that the distance between 0 and 1 on my ruler defines 1 inch. Therefore, by the power of Reasoning by Transitivity I can declare that the line I drew is one inch long. This means the validity of my declaration is completely related to the accuracy of my ruler’s manufacturer.

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