Deductive reasoning Deductive reasoning Deductive reasoning, also deductive logic, logical deduction is the process of reasoning from one or more statements (premises) to reach a logically certain conclusion. Deductive reasoning goes in the same direction as that of the conditionals, and links premises with conclusions. If all premises are true, the terms are clear, and the rules of deductive logic are followed, then the conclusion reached is necessarily true. Deductive reasoning (""top-down logic"") contrasts with inductive reasoning (""bottom-up logic"") in the following way; in deductive reasoning, a conclusion is reached reductively by applying general rules which hold over the entirety of a
Resolution (logic) premises hold, then the conclusion formula_19 is true. Resolution rule can be generalized to first-order logic to: where formula_21 is a most general unifier of formula_22 and formula_23 and formula_24 and formula_25 have no common variables. The clauses formula_26 and formula_27 can apply this rule with formula_28 as unifier. Here x is a variable and b is a constant. Here we see that In first order logic, resolution condenses the traditional syllogisms of logical inference down to a single rule. To understand how resolution works, consider the following example syllogism of term logic: Or, more generally: To recast the reasoning