causal inference | reason | Encyclopedia Britannica

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class="md-topic-title-identifier">Reason</span><ul class="md-topic-title-links"> <li><a id="md-topic-title-link-history" data-ytrk="/263" href="/web/20150503062914/http://www.britannica.com/topic/1442615/feedback" rel="nofollow">Contribute your ideas for this topic</a></li> </ul></div> <div id="edit-toolbar-placeholder"></div><div class="md-content-wrapper topic-content"> <div class="topic-content"> <div id="empty-section-stub-warning" class="font-sans"> Thank you for helping us expand this topic!<br/> Simply begin typing or use the editing tools above to add to this article.<br/> Once you are finished and click submit, your modifications will be sent to our editors for review. </div> <section id="empty-section-stub"></section> </div> <article class="font-sans-ui" vocab="http://schema.org" resource="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/1442615/causal-inference" typeof="Article" class="hide-on-edit"> <meta property="url" href="/EBchecked/topic/1442615/causal-inference"/> <meta property="name" content="causal inference"/> <div class="google-ad-afc-header">Ads by Google</div> <div id="div-gpt-ad-c839a0af-be0c-4c8b-abd7-85643726af9e" data-slot="" class="google-ad-iframe ui-hide-on-modal md-content-header-ad"> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="display gpt">googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-c839a0af-be0c-4c8b-abd7-85643726af9e'); });</script> </div> <div class="md-index-entry-page-message hide-on-edit"> This topic is discussed in the following articles: </div> <html> <head></head> <body> <div class="md-index-entry-page-list hide-on-edit"> <ul> <li><h2 class="h3">induction</h2> <div class="md-index-entry-link"> <a data-ytrk="/548" href="/web/20150503062914/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/593468/thought/275931/Deduction#ref990420"><span property="about" href="http://semantic.britannica.com/accepted_headword/core/593468/thought">thought<span class="md-index-entry-optional-title">: Induction</span></span></a> </div> <div class="md-index-entry-gist"> In a <span class="md-index-gist-highlight">causal inference</span>, one reasons to the conclusion that something is, or is likely to be, the cause of something else. For example, from the fact that one hears the sound of piano music, one may infer that someone is (or was) playing a piano. 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