On 12 Mar 2003 07:14:14 -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jason Owen) wrote: > In many reputable texts, you find the phrase "to make inference" > in the context of, e.g., the use sample data to estimate a parameter. > > However, isn't the proper phrasing "to draw inference?" Since inference > is from the verb "to infer," can inference really be made?
Semantic question? Popularity, or right and wrong? Google gives me 4560 hits for "draw an inference" compared to 3190 for "make an inference" so they look like relatively equal alternatives, so far as counts are concerned. Dictionaries online do say "drawing a conclusion" as a definition, and there were old quotes in the OED that used forms of "draw." At least one early google hit for 'make' was not 100% relevant - it said, 'make an inference into a conclusion'. I don't imagine that sort of angle to be very frequent, though. Another google hit was, "the computer will make an inference" -- and I have to say, I prefer that by a lot. To my ear, "drawing an inference" implies an intelligence. >From somewhere, I am accustomed to the idea that a computer will "make an inference" by following rules. - so I see a slight difference in the overtones, which occasionally might determine which I would use. -- Rich Ulrich, [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pitt.edu/~wpilib/index.html . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
