NYC FREE NYC Civil Service Deductive and Inductive Reasoning Questions and Answers 3

Question 1

Which of the following best illustrates deductive reasoning?

Accepted Answer

All sworn officers carry badges; Officer Chen is sworn; therefore Officer Chen carries a badge

Answer

Every time it rains, traffic gets worse, so it will probably be bad today

Answer

Most complaints are resolved within 5 days, so this one probably will be too

Answer

Three audits found errors, suggesting the whole system needs review

Question 2

Complete the analogy: Inductive is to probable as deductive is to ___?

Accepted Answer

Certain

Answer

Possible

Answer

Frequent

Answer

Partial

Question 3

A fire marshal reviews incident reports from the past six months and observes that most fires in residential buildings started in kitchens. He recommends enhanced kitchen inspections city-wide. What kind of reasoning supports his recommendation?

Accepted Answer

Inductive reasoning from observed data

Answer

Deductive reasoning from a universal law

Answer

Formal logical proof

Answer

Hypothetical syllogism

Question 4

Examine the sequence: 3, 6, 11, 18, 27, ___. What comes next?

Accepted Answer

38

Answer

36

Answer

39

Answer

40

Question 5

A department head states: 'No budget transfers are allowed after October 1. This request was submitted on October 3. Therefore, this transfer cannot be approved.' This argument uses:

Accepted Answer

Deductive reasoning

Answer

Inductive generalization

Answer

Statistical inference

Answer

Analogical reasoning

Question 6

Which scenario represents a weakness of inductive reasoning?

Accepted Answer

A past pattern fails to predict a future outcome

Answer

The conclusion does not follow from the premises

Answer

The argument contains circular logic

Answer

Both premises contradict each other