Inductive arguments take specific premises to make general conclusions. a strong inductive argument is most probably the case, and a weak inductive argument is most likely not the case. a causal inductive argument is very similar. it works like this: when x happens then y happens. x probably causes y. consider these two causal inductive arguments:

1. every day of my life, the sun has risen in the morning. tomorrow morning is another day; therefore the sun will probably rise.
2. every time i flick this switch, the living room light goes on. therefore this switch probably controls the living room light.

discussion questions:

1. do these arguments seem obvious? why or why not?
2. understanding the structure of inductive arguments, how do you rate the strength or weakness of perceived causal relationships within arguments?

Richardson hired j. c. flood company, a plumbing contractor, to correct a stoppage in the sewer line of her house. the plumbing company's 'snake' device, used to clear the line leading to the main sewer, became caught in the underground line. to release it, the company excavated a portion of the sewer line in richardson's backyard. in the process, the company discovered numerous leaks in a rusty, defective water pipe that ran parallel with the sewer line. to meet public regulations, the water pipe, of a type no longer approved for such service, had to be replaced either then or later, when the yard would have to be excavated again. the plumbing company proceeded to repair the water pipe. though richardson inspected the company's work daily and did not express any objection to the extra work involved in replacing the water pipe, she refused to pay any part of the total bill after the company completed the entire operation. j. c. flood company then sued richardson for the costs of labor and material it had furnished. (c) for what, if anything, should richardson be liable? explain."

Employees at a library check out books to patrons. books have an isbn and a name. the library sometimes has multiple copies of the same book. books have one or more authors. a patron is an individual who has an active (non-expired) library card. for each library card, we store the person's first and last names and their address. for each employee, we store their employee id, current salary, first and last name and their address. we also store the employee id of their current manager. each time we check out a book to a patron we need to store the date of the transaction, the employee who checked out the book to the patron, and the library card of the patron. some employees have library cards. if an employee patron turns in a book late, the fine that they pay is a percentage of their salary. some employees are authors who have library cards—they are allowed to check out as many books as they like.

Exercise 2-12 cost behavior; high-low method [lo2-3, lo2-4] speedy parcel service operates a fleet of delivery trucks in a large metropolitan area. a careful study by the company’s cost analyst has determined that if a truck is driven 120,000 miles during a year, the average operating cost is 11.6 cents per mile. if a truck is driven only 80,000 miles during a year, the average operating cost increases to 13.6 cents per mile. required: 1.& 2. using the high-low method, estimate the variable and fixed cost elements of the annual cost of truck operation. (round the "variable cost per mile" to 3 decimal places.)