Dictionary:

induction

  (ĭn-dŭk'shən)

1. 1. The act or an instance of inducting.
   2. A ceremony or formal act by which a person is inducted, as into office or military service.
2. Electricity.
   1. The generation of electromotive force in a closed circuit by a varying magnetic flux through the circuit.
   2. The charging of an isolated conducting object by momentarily grounding it while a charged body is nearby.
3. Logic.
   1. The process of deriving general principles from particular facts or instances.
   2. A conclusion reached by this process.
4. Mathematics. A two-part method of proving a theorem involving an integral parameter. First the theorem is verified for the smallest admissible value of the integer. Then it is proven that if the theorem is true for any value of the integer, it is true for the next greater value. The final proof contains the two parts.
5. The act or process of inducing or bringing about, as:
   1. Medicine. The inducing of labor, whereby labor is initiated artificially with drugs such as oxytocin.
   2. Medicine. The administration of anesthetic agents and the establishment of a depth of anesthesia adequate for surgery.
   3. Biochemistry. The process of initiating or increasing the production of an enzyme, as in genetic transcription.
   4. Embryology. The process by which one part of an embryo causes adjacent tissues or parts to change form or shape, as by the diffusion of hormones or other chemicals.
6. Presentation of material, such as facts or evidence, in support of an argument or proposition.
7. A preface or prologue, especially to an early English play.

An effect in electrical systems in which electrical currents store energy temporarily in magnetic fields before that energy is returned to the circuit.

The process of generating an electric current in a circuit from the magnetic influence of an adjacent circuit as in a transformer or capacitor.

Electrical induction is also the principle behind the write head on magnetic disks and earlier read heads. To create (write) the bit, current is sent through a coil that creates a magnetic field which is discharged at the gap of the head onto the disk surface as it spins by. To read the bit, the magnetic field of the bit "induces" an electrical charge in the head as it passes by the gap. See inductor.

noun

1. The act or process of formally admitting a person to membership or office: inaugural, inauguration, initiation, installation, instatement, investiture. See accept/reject.
2. Compulsory enrollment in military service: conscription, draft, levy. See give/take/reciprocity.
3. A short section of preliminary remarks: foreword, introduction, lead-in, overture, preamble, preface, prelude, prolegomenon, prologue. See start/end, words.

Definition: taking in, initiation
Antonyms: blackballing, expulsion, rejection

The act or process of inducing or causing to occur.

n. enlistment into military service.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Using the observation of particular initial cases in order to infer a general law from them. The researcher devises a general law to fit the observations—such as ‘what goes up must come down’—and then searches for examples which disprove that law; if any are found, the law is reformulated until it fits these exceptions. When no new discrepancies can be found (although this is a rather subjective decision), the generalization is accepted. Compare with deduction.

induction, an older word for the prologue or introduction to a work. The introductory episode of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, for example, is called the induction.

For more information on induction, visit Britannica.com.

1. In air conditioning, the entrainment of air in a room by the flow of a stream of primary air from an air outlet.
2. The process by which current in one conductor induces an electric current in a nearby conductor.

The term is most widely used for any process of reasoning that takes us from empirical premises to empirical conclusions supported by the premises, but not deductively entailed by them. Inductive arguments are therefore kinds of ampliative argument, in which something beyond the content of the premises is inferred as probable or supported by them. Induction is, however, commonly distinguished from arguments to theoretical explanations, which share this ampliative character, by being confined to inference in which the conclusion involves the same properties or relations as the premises. The central example is induction by simple enumeration, where from premises telling that Fa, Fb, Fc…, where a, b, c, are all of some kind G, it is inferred that Gs from outside the sample, such as future Gs, will be F, or perhaps that all Gs are F. If this, that, and the other person deceive them, children may well infer that everyone is a deceiver. Different but similar inferences are those from the past possession of a property by some object to the same object's future possession of the same property, or from the constancy of some law-like pattern in events and states of affairs to its future constancy: all objects we know of attract each other with a force inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them, so perhaps they all do so, and always will do so.

The rational basis of any such inference was challenged by Hume, who believed that induction presupposed belief in the uniformity of nature, but that this belief had no defence in reason, and merely reflected a habit or custom of the mind. Hume was not therefore sceptical about the propriety of processes of induction, but sceptical about the role of reason in either explaining it or justifying it. Trying to answer Hume and to show that there is something rationally compelling about the inference is referred to as the problem of induction. It is widely recognized that any rational defence of induction will have to partition well-behaved properties for which the inference is plausible (often called projectible properties) from badly behaved ones for which it is not (see Goodman's paradox). It is also recognized that actual inductive habits are more complex than those of simple enumeration, and that both common sense and science pay attention to such factors as variations within the sample giving us the evidence, the application of ancillary beliefs about the order of nature, and so on (see Mill's methods). Nevertheless, the fundamental problem remains that any experience shows us only events occurring within a very restricted part of the vast spatial and temporal order about which we then come to believe things. See also confirmation, explanation, falsification, vindication.

A process of reasoning in which a general statement suggesting a regular association between two or more variables is derived from a series of specific empirical observations.

1. the process or act of inducing, or causing to occur, especially the production of a specific morphogenetic effect in the embryo through evocators or organizers, or the production of anesthesia or unconsciousness or parturition by use of appropriate agents.
2. the generation of an electric current or magnetic properties in a body because of its proximity to an electrified or magnetized object.

• i. period — the time from exposure to a non-infectious agent to the first appearance of the disease. Analogous to the incubation period but for non-infectious pathogenic agents.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - induktion, indsættelse, indkaldelse, indsugning

Nederlands (Dutch)
inductie, installatie, opwekking (m.n. van weeën), oproep voor militaire dienst (V.S.)

Français (French)
n. - (Élec, Math, Philos, Tech) induction, (Méd) déclenchement (d'un accouchement), installation, (US, Mil) incorporation

Deutsch (German)
n. - Induktion, Amtseinführung, Herbeiführen, Auslösung, (Mil.) Einberufung

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - επαγωγή, πρώτη γνωριμία, (προ)εισαγωγή, μύηση, (μτφ.) μπάσιμο, εγκατάσταση σε αξίωμα, ανάρρηση, (ηλεκτρ.) αυτεπαγωγή

Italiano (Italian)
induzione, installazione

Português (Portuguese)
n. - indução (f) (Log.), introdução (f), raciocínio (m)

Русский (Russian)
индукция, официальное введение в должность

Español (Spanish)
n. - inducción, admisión, instalación, iniciación

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - induktion (filos., fys. el. matem.), framkallande, anförande, installation, introduktion, inkallelse (amer. mil.)

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
就职, 入会, 就职仪式, 征召

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 就職, 入會, 就職儀式, 徵召

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 유도, 귀납법, 전제, (성직) 취임식

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 引き入れること, 誘導, 感応, 就任式, 入隊式, 帰納, 帰納法, 序幕, 緒言

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) تنصيب, استقراء‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮הכנסה לתפקיד, גיוס, השראה, זירוז לידה, התגייסות לצבא (ארה"ב), אינדוקציה, הסקת חוק כללי ממקרים פרטיים (לוגיקה), יצירת השראה מגנטית או חשמלית ע"י קירוב גוף מחושמל או ממוגנט, הצגה רשמית של תפקיד חדש, הפשטה‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.