01 Critical Thinking

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CRITICAL THINKING
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Upon reaching home from work, Amy found out that there
has been a murder in her neighbourhood.
Her neighbour next door is found to be murdered with a
knife.
Amy is then brought to the police station to assist in
the investigation.
Amy is officially arrested an hour later because the
fingerprint on the knife matches hers.
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Amy argues in the court:

“There might just have
been another fingerprint
in the world that is the
same as mine.
I am innocent!”
Is Amy’s argument valid?
Why or why not?
1.1 REASONING SKILLS CRITICAL THINKING 4
The first type of reasoning process is called inductive reasoning, or induction.
EXAMPLE
If two even numbers are multiplied together, will the product
always be an even number?
SOLUTIONS
2×2=4 4 × 6 = 24 6 × 8 = 48
2×4 =8 4 × 8 = 32 6 × 10 = 60
2 × 6 = 12 4 × 10 = 40 6 × 12 = 72
All the products are even numbers.
Thus, we might predict from these examples that the product of
any two even numbers is an even number.
• Based on the example, can we conclude that

the results are true for all pairs of even
numbers ?
• Answer: NOPE!
• However, we can make predictions from the
patterns developed.
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Inductive reasoning is the process of

reasoning to a general conclusion through
observations of specific cases.
• Induction often involves observing a pattern

and from that pattern predicting a conclusion
• Analogy: Falling dominoes
• Inductive reasoning is often used by
mathematicians and scientists to predict
answers to complicated problems, as part of
the scientific method.
• When we make a prediction, it’s called a
hypothesis.
TRY-IT-YOURSELF
Pick any number, multiply the number by 4, add 2 to
the product, divide the sum by 2, and subtract 1 from
the answer. Repeat this procedure for several
different numbers and then make a hypothesis about
the relationship between the original number
and the final number. ?
SOLUTIONS
The final number will always be twice the original
number.
• Do take note that not all conclusions arrived

at by inductive reasoning are correct.
• We should test it with several special cases to
see whether the conclusion appears correct.
• If a special case is found that satisfies the
conditions of the hypothesis but produces a
different result, such a case is called a
counterexample.
• A second type of reasoning process is called

deductive reasoning, or deduction.
• Mathematicians use deductive reasoning to
prove hypothesis true or false.
EXAMPLE
If you pick any number, multiply the number by
4, add 2 to the product, divide the sum by 2, and
subtract 1 from the answer, the final number will
always be twice the original number.
Prove, using deductive reasoning, that the
procedure above will always produce the result
stated above.
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Deductive reasoning is the process of

reasoning to a specific conclusion from a
general statement.
1.2 MATHEMATICAL MODELING MATHEMATICAL MODELING 13
MATHEMATICAL MODELING
What is the difference between an equation, a
formula, and a mathematical model?
Mathematical modeling is the process of finding
formulas to describe real-world problems.
Example:
𝑀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 220 − 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑔𝑒
General procedure for solving word problems:
• Read and understand the problem
• Determine the quantity you’re investigating.
Choose a letter to represent it and write down what
it represents.
• Write the word problem as an equation.
• Solve the problem.
• Check the solution.
EXAMPLE
A cleaning company charges a base fee of RM20 plus
RM32.50 per hour to clean Amy’s office. If the total
cost for office cleaning is RM117.50 for June, how
many hours did it take to clean their house?
Solutions
Step 1 Read 
Step 2
𝑛 = 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠
Step 3
RM 32.50n = cost for cleaning n hours at RM 32.50
per hour
Base charge + hourly charge = total bill
RM20 + RM32.50n = RM117.50
Step 4
20 + 32.50𝑛 = 117.50
32.50𝑛 = 97.5
𝑛=3
∴ 𝐼𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠 3 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒.
Step 5
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑙 = 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 + ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒
= 20 + 32.50(3)
= 20 + 97.50
= 𝑅𝑀117.50
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑.
Extra Question
Create an equation to model the cleaning cost
charged by this company.
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 = RM20 + RM32.50n
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1

Amy argues in the court:

The first type of reasoning process is called inductive reasoning, or induction.

• Based on the example, can we conclude that

Inductive reasoning is the process of

• Induction often involves observing a pattern

• Do take note that not all conclusions arrived

• A second type of reasoning process is called

Deductive reasoning is the process of

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