different between deduction vs hypothesis

English

Etymology

From Middle French déduction, from Latin deductio

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??d?k??n/, /d??d?k??n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /d??d?k??n/
• Rhymes: -?k??n

Noun

deduction (countable and uncountable, plural deductions)

1. That which is deducted; that which is subtracted or removed
2. A sum that can be removed from tax calculations; something that is written off

   You might want to donate the old junk and just take the deduction.

3. (logic) A process of reasoning that moves from the general to the specific, in which a conclusion follows necessarily from the premises presented, so that the conclusion cannot be false if the premises are true.

   Antonym: induction

4. A conclusion; that which is deduced, concluded or figured out

   He arrived at the deduction that the butler didn't do it.

5. The ability or skill to deduce or figure out; the power of reason

   Through his powers of deduction, he realized that the plan would never work.

Synonyms

• (that which is subtracted or removed): extract, reduction; See also Thesaurus:decrement

Translations

English

Etymology

Recorded since 1596, from Middle French hypothese, from Late Latin hypothesis, from Ancient Greek ???????? (hupóthesis, “base, basis of an argument, supposition”, literally “a placing under”), itself from ????????? (hupotíth?mi, “I set before, suggest”), from ??? (hupó, “below”) + ?????? (títh?mi, “I put, place”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ha??p???s?s/, /h??p???s?s/, /h??p???s?s/, /-?s?s/, /-?s?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ha??p??.??.s?s/

Noun

hypothesis (plural hypotheses)

1. (sciences) Used loosely, a tentative conjecture explaining an observation, phenomenon or scientific problem that can be tested by further observation, investigation and/or experimentation. As a scientific term of art, see the attached quotation. Compare to theory, and quotation given there.
   • 2005, Ronald H. Pine, http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/intelligent_design_or_no_model_creationism, 15 October 2005:

     Far too many of us have been taught in school that a scientist, in the course of trying to figure something out, will first come up with a "hypothesis" (a guess or surmise—not necessarily even an "educated" guess). ... [But t]he word "hypothesis" should be used, in science, exclusively for a reasoned, sensible, knowledge-informed explanation for why some phenomenon exists or occurs. An hypothesis can be as yet untested; can have already been tested; may have been falsified; may have not yet been falsified, although tested; or may have been tested in a myriad of ways countless times without being falsified; and it may come to be universally accepted by the scientific community. An understanding of the word "hypothesis," as used in science, requires a grasp of the principles underlying Occam's Razor and Karl Popper's thought in regard to "falsifiability"—including the notion that any respectable scientific hypothesis must, in principle, be "capable of" being proven wrong (if it should, in fact, just happen to be wrong), but none can ever be proved to be true. One aspect of a proper understanding of the word "hypothesis," as used in science, is that only a vanishingly small percentage of hypotheses could ever potentially become a theory.

2. (general) An assumption taken to be true for the purpose of argument or investigation.
3. (grammar) The antecedent of a conditional statement.

Synonyms

• supposition
• theory
• thesis
• educated guess
• guess
• See also Thesaurus:supposition

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ???????? (hupóthesis, “hypothesis”, noun).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /hy?po.t?e.sis/, [h??p?t???s??s?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /i?po.te.sis/, [i?p??t??s?is]

Noun

hypothesis f (genitive hypothesis or hypothese?s or hypothesios); third declension

1. hypothesis

Declension

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, i-stem, i-stem).

¹Found sometimes in Medieval and New Latin.

• There is also genitive plural hypothese?n.
• The genitive singular is also spelled hypothese?s and the genitive plural hypothese?n.