Learning Paths
“THE SECRET CODE STRATEGY”
THE BOGO MYSTERY - STEP 5
You´ve just used the “secret code strategy”, which is one way to optimize the use of the induction process - the process through which you carefully observe examples of a code in order to “break” it. Starting from particular, specific contexts, you can spot relationships and regularities in the incoming information. You can then formulate and test hypotheses on more general concepts and “rules”, patterns to interpret and explain phenomena, “laws” of a more abstract nature.
In practice, the steps you probably went through during this activity were:
a. you carefully observed and compared specific examples, noting similarities and differences and looking for patterns;
b. you made some hypotheses concerning the possible rules of the language;
c. you applied these rules to other examples to test their validity;
d. you confirmed and accepted your rules, while keeping an eye on new items which might prompt you to revise them:
e. you applied your rules to solve new problems.
The “secret code strategy” is the perfect companion to the “Sherlock Holmes strategy”, but they refer to two quite different processes:
- using induction, you move from the specific to the general, from the concrete to the abstract - you formulate rules;
- using deduction (which I also call inference) you move in the opposite direction, from the general to the specific, from the abstract to the concrete - you apply rules.
It goes without saying that both processes can profitably work together in our constant search for patterns and ways to use them.