Reasoning Analogies

This is an article to help you on your journey of logical reasoning. The author has provided some examples of analogies and also lists sources to help you with further quests after reading this. A few things mentioned in the article will be explained below that may help you along your own path, so let’s get started!

-Uncovering the hidden lessons: Analogies for understanding the nature of reasoning.

-Improving how we think about logical reasoning: Some tools for introspection and improvement.

-Beating logic: A guide on how to win any argument with logic and reason.

-Logical fallacies: An introduction to common mistakes in thinking and how/when they occur.

What is Analogical Reasoning?

Analogy is one of the most important areas of the Reasoning section, and the famous question in this area is “elimination” . It is a process of elimination or removal to find the correct answer to a question. What are things which are like each other? What are they different from each other? This can be successfully tested by conducting an analogy.

Analogy questions are mainly developed through some comparisons and similarities between two or more objects that you compare. In this type of questions, you have to draw logical conclusions by identifying some common characteristics between a pair of things, which can be seen in form of analogies or comparisons. Reasons must be simple and clear for us to understand easily and clearly about the Analogy question. Analogy is a kind of comparison that can be seen in day-to-day life.

Types of Analogical Reasoning:

There are many types of analogical reasoning and each one is different from each other, some of the types of analogical reasoning are:

1) Word Based Analogy:  In this type of questions, you think about words or terms that are associated with the answer to a question. With the help of words, you can also find out the similarities between two things and make a conclusion. Examples- “what does ‘sandy’ mean?”

2) Number Based Analogy: In this type of questions, you think about the number which is related to the answer to a question. With the help of numbers, you can also find out the similarities between two things and make a conclusion. Examples- “8 to 10 is how many more than 9?”

3) Mixed Analogy(Letters and Number Based Analogy): In this type of questions, you think about the letters and numbers which are associated with the answer to a question. With the help of letters, you can also find out the similarities between two things and make a conclusion. Examples- “What does ‘colonisation’ mean?”

4) Picture Based Analogy: In this type of questions, you think about images associated with the answer to a question. With the help of images, you can also find out the similarities between two things and make a conclusion. Examples- “Which is like an apple?”

5) General Knowledge Based Analogy: In this type of questions, you think about something which is used in daily life and is related to the answer to a question. With the help of something general, you can also find out the similarities between two things and make a conclusion. Examples- “what is an analogy of sun?”

6) Geographical Analogy: In this type of questions, you think about something which is associated with places like location or country in which the answer to a question is located. With the help of geographical knowledge, you can also find out the similarities between two things and make a conclusion.

Tips and Tricks to solve Analogy Based Questions:

1) For the word-based analogies to find the answers, you need to first define your concept of what the answer is, then try and think of synonyms. For example, “What does ‘sandy’ mean?” You can go there and look around for similar words or synonyms, like ‘salty’, ‘smooth’, ‘muddy’, etc. This helps you in finding more analogies well.

2) For a number-based analogy to find the answers, you need to first define your concept of what the answer is, then try and think of numbers. For example, “8 to 10 is how many more than 9?” You can see that it has 6 and 3 which are related to the number 6. This will help you in solving the analogy question, just follow that step.

3) In case of mixed analogies there will be letter, number and also word-based questions as well. You have to read all the options carefully before making a selection.

4) In case of general knowledge-based questions, you need to have general knowledge about everything.

5) In case of geographical analogy questions, you need to have geographical knowledge about certain things.

Some important points to keep in mind while solving the Analogies are:

1) You have to carefully read all the options before making a selection.

2) You have to understand the question properly and try to find it’s hidden meanings.

3) Try avoiding similarities that are too broad, like ‘dairy’ is too broad because it contains ‘milk’, ‘cheese’, etc. So be careful while choosing your answers because you may select the wrong one because of such broad similarities.